Lot 13 D α

In 1760, King Frederick II ordered a service decorated with "Mathematical Instruments" from Meissen for Jean-Baptiste Boyer Marquis d'Argens (1703 - 1771), which was painted according to his own designs. These motifs were executed in relief for the two services ordered the following year with green and iron-red scale pattern decor. Meissen called the elaborate relief "Prussian musical design".
The "dinner service with red mosaic borders and Indian flowers" originally included 144 dinner plates, 48 soup bowls, numerous dishes and tureens, as well as cutlery handles, butter dishes, salt cellars, leaf bowls, warming cloches, candlesticks and centerpieces.
The Indian flower that adorns the red service can be traced back to a hand drawing by the king, and the choice of color was also made by him: "With regard to the decoration, it should be noted that no color other than red should be applied to the entire pieces, namely of the color that the King of Bohemia's Majesty particularly loves, mixed in with gold. In 1763, the service was expanded to include dessert plates and leaf bowls, also precisely executed according to the king's wishes.
We do not know today if and how he used the service. 20 years later, in 1781, Frederick II gave the service as a gift to his general Wichard von Möllendorff, after whom the service is named today.