A Meissen porcelain plate from the service for Gerlach Adolf Freiherr von Münchhausen
"Alter Ausschnitt" model painted with the monk's coat-of-arms on the lip on a background of purple acanthus tendrils. Decorated in the centre with a Chinoiserie mythical beast reminiscent of a Ch'i-lin. Blue crossed swords mark, dreher's no. 16. Minor wear to the gilding. D 21.5 cm.
Around 1745, model by Johann Joachim Kaendler, decor after Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck.
Baron Gerlach Adolf von Münchhausen (1688 - 1770) expressed his gratitude on 17th April 1745 for the "magnifique Königl. Porcellain present" (Hoffmeister 1999, vol. II, p. 602). Münchhausen, who was born in Berlin, entered the service of the Elector of Hanover in 1715, who was also King George II of England in personal union. He appointed Münchhausen a Privy Councillor in 1727 and Grand Bailiff of the Prefecture of Celle in 1732. Münchhausen played an increasingly important political role in the years following the death of Emperor Charles VI and enjoyed a special relationship of trust with both George II and his successor George III.
Dieter Hoffmeister also mentions the letters discovered by Claus Boltz in the Dresden State Archives, which show that von Münchhausen also played a leading role in the negotiations for a loan of 3.5 million riksdaler from Brunswick to Saxony in 1745. Enclosed with the file was also an exchange of letters between Count Hennicke and Baron Münchhausen, in which Hennicke requested the presentation of Münchhausen's coat of arms on 4th January 1745. The service must have been created and delivered during this period, between January and April 1745.
26 of these plates were formerly in the Klemperer collection.
Provenance
Private collection, Westphalia.
Literature
Cf. cat. Die Sammlung Hoffmeister, vol. II, Hamburg 1999, cat. no. 369.
Cf. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain 1710 -50, New York-London 2008, cat. no. 204 a-c, for further plates from the service, formerly housed in the collection of Paul v. Ostermann.
Further plates sold Lempertz Cologne auction 1159 on 13 November 2020, lot 647 and Lempertz Cologne auction 1184 on 19 November 2021, lot 1039.