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A royal gift, c. 1735

Tuesday, May 31st 2022

by Meissen

A ca. 1735 porcelain barrel-shaped box and oval tray by Meissen. Both decorated with Japan inspired patterns, the rims of the box lined with silver, its lid topped with a lion. Come in a red morocco leather case with gold markings, Louis XV period.
A ca. 1735 porcelain barrel-shaped box and oval tray by Meissen. Both decorated with Japan inspired patterns, the rims of the box lined with silver, its lid topped with a lion. Come in a red morocco leather case with gold markings, Louis XV period.
A ca. 1735 porcelain barrel-shaped box and oval tray by Meissen. Both decorated with Japan inspired patterns, the rims of the box lined with silver, its lid topped with a lion. Come in a red morocco leather case with gold markings, Louis XV period.
A ca. 1735 porcelain barrel-shaped box and oval tray by Meissen. Both decorated with Japan inspired patterns, the rims of the box lined with silver, its lid topped with a lion. Come in a red morocco leather case with gold markings, Louis XV period.

Box: Height 4.33" Length 3.15"
Tray: Length 8.27" Width 5.12"
Case: Height 15.51" Length 9.05" Depth 5.90"

The tray

Based on a Japanese original, the design of this tray was first manufactured in Meissen, Saxony, perhaps as early as the summer of 1729, for Rodolphe Lemaire, a French merchant who was planning to pass off copies of Asian porcelains he had ordered from Meissen in Paris as originals, in order to sell them at a higher price. After Lemaire's scam was discovered and the porcelain he ordered was confiscated and sent to the Japanese Palace, it seems that porcelain bearing this design was allowed to be sold to the public at first. However, it is likely that August II “the Strong”, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland reserved this pattern to the exclusive use of the court shortly before his February 1, 1733 death. In early November 1734, his successor, August III, chose the "Red Dragon" pattern to decorate the first Meissen porcelain service made for the Dresden Court, which was first delivered in 1735 (Julia Weber, Meissener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, 2013, vol. 2, pp. 246-254).

The barrel-shaped box

If Meissen porcelain barrels of various shapes, serving as coffee or alcohol fountains, are well known, neither the shape of this specific one - with its lidded top part – nor its purpose seem to be recorded. One of the earliest Meissen porcelain barrels, held in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, is dated around 1728 (see R. Rüchert, Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, color plate X, no. 277). In 1735, sculptor Johann Joachim Kaendler created a model for these barrels, which he revised in 1738. Unlike ours, his is made in one piece (devoid of any lid) and topped by stopper figuring a Bacchic child.

A royal gift?

In March 1737, August III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, gifted Marie Leszczynska, Queen of France, with a Meissen porcelain tea, coffee and chocolate service decorated with landscapes and the French and Polish coats of arms. Placed in a case made of red leather with gold inlay, this service consisted of twelve tea bowls, twelve saucers, twelve chocolate cups and their stand, a rinsing bowl, a chocolate pot, a milk pot, two teapots and a trivet, a sugar box, and a tea box. August III’s half-brother Maurice of Saxony was charged with bringing it to France. Merchant and haberdasher Jean Charles Huet, an employee of the Meissen factory in Paris, was paid in September 1737 for his role in the delivery of the service.

In 1728, August II of Saxony had sent to Louis XV's former tutor Cardinal de Fleury an amazing, very significant gift of Meissen porcelain probably to facilitate the upcoming succession to the Polish throne, which Stanisław I Leszczyński, father of the Queen of France, claimed rights to. August III's 1737 gift to the former King of Poland’s daughter was probably a goodwill gesture meant to show his desire to re-establish serene relations with the French Court. At the same time, August III wrote to the cardinal of Fleury that he was sending a new ambassador to France.

The chocolate pot, milk pot, a lidded coffee pot, five tea bowls, and three chocolate cups that were part of this diplomatic gift recently reappeared at public auction. They were purchased by the Palace of Versailles, which also separately purchased the rinsing bowl while the teapot is held in the Gilbert Collection presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The combination of a tray from the Red Dragon service, a barrel with a Parisian silver hinge and a French leather case is most likely the work of a merchant-haberdasher. However, the fleurs-de-lis decorating the case would tend to prove that the owner of this set was a member of the royal family, as they were the only ones allowed to use this design in the mid-eighteenth century. It is therefore very possible that August III gifted the barrel and tray from his Red Dragon service to the French court before 1738. Both were then gathered in this case in France and all three have remained together to this day.
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