A large Strasbourg faience cabbage-form tureen
Naturalistically rendered tureen modelled as a white cabbage, the inner leaves forming the lid. Unmarked. Restored, glaze of the rim slightly worn. H 20, W 34 cm.
Ca. 1750 - 54.
This cabbage design is generally associated with production of the Clemenswerth hunting service. In the "Protocollum Inventarisationis," which was compiled at Clemenswerth Palace after the death of Elector Clemens August, "2 cauliflower heads" are mentioned. In total, the service included more than 120 tureens in the shape of vegetables or animals, the designs of which related to their contents, i.e. the dish inside. The original order was placed with the faience producer Paul Hannong in Strasbourg under the condition that all pieces should be completed in time for the hunting season in autumn 1751. The service was used for dinners during hunting parties and featured place settings for over 100 people.
The Clemenswerth service was destined to enter the art market after 1942. The tureens are considered the finest products of 18th century European faience.
Literature
For more on this service see Köllmann, Porzellan und Fayence am Hofe Clemens Augusts, in: Kurfürst Clemens August. Landesherr und Mäzen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Cologne 1961, p. 330.
Cf. Kat. Clemens August Fürstbischof, Jagdherr, Mäzen, Meppen/Sögel 1987, p. 475 ff. And no. 276.14.