A plate and a sauce boat from the Damascus service for Wilhelm II
Unidentified model. Decorated in the famille rose colour palette with large lotus leaves and gold chrysanthemums. The well of the plate painted with a delicate dandelion flower. Blue sceptre mark, red imperial orb mark, year letter L? (the sauce boat) and B, and impressed mark M and 3 (the plate), blue owner's monogram WR, 1903 in blue (the plate) and 1906 (the sauce boat). D plate 24.4 cm, W sauce boat 26.8 cm.
1903 - 1915.
The origin of this service, which graced the imperial table as of 1903, is not known for certain. It is thought that the décor and the name were both inspired by Wilhelm II's journey to the Orient in 1898, during which he visited Damascus and received a Chinese famille rose dish as a gift. Based on this, the Berlin manufactory went on to produce over 900 designs with exotic, Continental and fanciful plants and flowers for the decoration of the numerous plates in the service. The first delivery of items arrived at court in 1904 and included around 530 dinner plates. The Damascus service was one of the last, and probably most opulent, services produced for Wilhelm II in the Berlin manufactory.
Provenance
The plate sold by Christie's London on 8th January 2002, lot 287. Collection of Renate and Tono Dreßen.
Literature
For more on this service see Peters, Porzellane der KPM Berlin im ostasiatischen Stil, in: Keramos 150/1995, p. 104 ff. Cf. also cat. Kronschatz und Silberkammer der Hohenzollern, Berlin/Munich 2010, p. 75.