A rare Meissen porcelain tea bowl and saucer from the "Campoflorido" service
The display side of the cup and the well of the saucer both decorated with the opulently crowned coat of arms supported by two lions on a gilt bracket. Decorated throughout with finely painted merchant navy scenes. The saucer with scattered indianische blumen. Blue crossed swords mark, dreher's mark with three circles for Gottfried Seydel (the tea bowl) and two stars for Christian Meynert. The rim re-gilt and peeling. H 4.5, D 7.8, D saucer 13.1 cm.
Circa 1739, decor attributed to Christian Friedrich Herold.
In his 1999 publication, Dieter Hoffmeister identified this coat of arms as that of Mauro d´Aversa. However, Maureen Cassidy-Geiger found out that the service was in fact produced for the Sicilian-born Don Luigi Reggio e Branciforte, Prince of Campofiorito and Grandee of Spain (1677 - 1757). He was appointed Spanish envoy to the Republic of Venice in 1737 and remained there until 1740, when Crown Prince Friedrich Christian of Saxony travelled to Italy and lodged in the city.
The coffee and tea service was already produced prior to 1740, whereas the dinner service with its slightly differing design is dated to 1741. Prince Campofiorito accepted the position in Paris in 1740. Several years later, his table decoration was enthusiastically praised in a letter from the Duke of Luynes dated 18th August 1745, discovered by John Whitehead. The prince organised a grand feast in honour of both the Queen of the two Sicilies (born Maria Amalia of Saxony), who had recently given birth, and the birthday of Madame Infanté, Marie Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon. The opulent Meissen service was perfect for the occasion and was praised accordingly.
Provenance
Acquired in 1986 from Heinz Reichert, Munich.
Literature
A tea bowl and a two-handled cup, still with the erroneously attributed coat of arms, from the former Hoffmeister collection (vol. II, Hamburg 1999, no. 321 f.)
Cf. Cassidy-Geiger, Princes and Porcelain on the Grand Tour of Italy, in: dies., Fragile Diplomacy Meissen Porcelain for European Courts, New York 2007, p. 228, fig. 10-41, a cloche from a service with slightly differing design also in the former Hoffmeister collection.