A Meissen porcelain tea bowl and saucer from the service for King Louis XV and Maria Leszczynska - image-1

Lot 666 Dα

A Meissen porcelain tea bowl and saucer from the service for King Louis XV and Maria Leszczynska

Auction 1159 - overview Cologne
13.11.2020, 09:30 - Decorative Arts incl. the Renate and Tono Dreßen Collection
Estimate: 10.000 € - 15.000 €
Result: 16.250 € (incl. premium)

A Meissen porcelain tea bowl and saucer from the service for King Louis XV and Maria Leszczynska

The display side of the tea bowl decorated with the arms of alliance on two oval shields within a winged rocaille cartouche. Decorated throughout with finely painted merchant navy scenes. The saucer with the armorial within a large quatrefoil cartouche on a gilt ground, below it another identical merchant navy scene. Blue crossed swords mark, dreher's mark of Johann Christoph Schumann (cup) and Paul Wildenstein (saucer). The glaze of the saucer slightly worn in some areas. H 4.6, D 7.8, D saucer 12.9 cm.
Circa 1737, decor attributed to Christian Friedrich Herold.

King Augustus III presented Maria Leszczynska, daughter of the former Polish King Stanislav and wife of the French King Louis XV, with a tea and hot chocolate service in March 1737. Her arms of alliance comprises both the French royal arms of the House of Bourbon and the Polish royal arms. Augustus III was king of both Saxony and Poland and thus rival to the dethroned King Stanislaus Leszczynski. It is not known to what occasion the service was presented, which leaves us with numerous open questions.
Documents found in the state archives of Saxony in Dresden indicate that the service consisted originally of twelve tea bowls and saucers, twelve hot chocolate beakers and saucers, a hot chocolate pot and two teapots, a rechaud, a slop bowl, a milk jug, a sugar box and a tea caddy. It was delivered in an embossed red leather travel case by Moritz of Saxony, the Saxon king's half brother who, in his role as "Maréchal de Saxe", was also the highest ranking officer in the French army. The Parisian art dealer Jean Charles Huet also received payment in connection with his role in negotiating the delivery of the service.

Provenance

Acquired in 1990 from Kunsthandel Zemlin, Hannover.

Literature

Illus. in cat.: Blütenlese. Meißener Porzellan aus der Sammlung Tono Dreßen, Munich 2018, p. 99, no. 65.
Cf. a similar tea bowl and saucer from the former Hoffmeister collection (vol. II, Hamburg 1999, no. 334).
Cf. also: Munger, Gifts of Meissen Porcelain to the French Court, 1728 - 50, in: Cassidy-Geiger (ed.), Fragile Diplomacy. Meissen Porcelain for European Courts ca. 1710 - 63, New Haven-London 2007, p. 155 f.