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A MEISSEN (AUGUSTUS REX) PORCELAIN ROYAL ARMORIAL PART TEA AND CHOCOLATE-SERVICE 1725, BLUE AR MARKS AND VARIOUS DREHERS' MARKS, PAINTED BY J.G. H?ROLDT Finely painted with fine chinoiserie scenes and the crowned cipher or crowned arms of the King of Sardinia, the arms within the insignia of the Order of the Annunciation flanked by lion supporters and martial trophies, all within gilt Laub-und Bandelwerk borders, the teabowl interiors with stylised chinoiserie landscape medallions, comprising: A teapot and cover A slop-bowl Five teabowls A chocolate-beaker Seven saucers The slop-bowl 7 ? in. (18.5 cm.) diameter The teapot and cover 5 in. (12.7 cm.) high
Given by Augustus II (1670-1733), King of Poland and Elector of Saxony (Augustus ‘the Strong’) to Vittorio Amadeo II (1666-1732), King of Sardinia in 1725, and thence by descent to the Kings of Italy.
The present lot represents the majority of the famous armorial tea and chocolate service which was sent to Vittorio Amadeo II, King of Sardinia by the Elector King Augustus ‘the Strong’ in 1725. The appearance of these pieces is an exciting discovery, as they were thought to be lost. Previously, only a few surviving pieces from the service were known. The 1725 gift is exceptional and important for two reasons; it was one of the earliest and most prestigious diplomatic gifts to include Meissen porcelain (the manufactory belonging to Augustus the Strong), and these pieces are among the very few works which are known to have been painted by J.G H?roldt, the Court Painter and head of the painting workshops at Meissen, as contemporary documents record that he painted them himself.
Augustus’s gift is well documented in a range of surviving archival material. It was larger and more prestigious than most diplomatic gifts, consisting of about 300 individual items which had to be shipped in twelves crates. The surviving shipping lists (1) describe the contents of the crates, and crate 11 is described as follows:
‘Roth Ledern Futterahl mit grünen Daffet und Goldenen Spitzen ausgemacht, darinnen befindl: 6. St. Sch?lgen und Copgen mit dem K?nigl: Sardinischen Wappen und mit Japanischen Figuren und goldenen Zierrathen, nebst 1. Dergl: Spühlnapff, 1. Theepott, 1. ZuckerDose und 6 st. Choccolade Becher mit Unterschalen’ (a red leather case with a green lining and gold lace containing six saucers and teabowls with the Sardinian coat-of-arms and Japanese figures: also a bowl, a teapot, a sugar-bowl and six chocolate beakers with saucers) (2).
The armorial service was one of the principal components of the 1725 gift, which also included five 7-vase garnitures, nine boxed coffee, tea and chocolate-services, two small table-services, other wares, two chamber-pots and prize horses. Some of the Meissen porcelain (such as the present service) was made especially for the gift, but other pieces were taken from the Saxon Royal collection, including the garniture of large early white porcelain vases designed by Raymond Leplat (circa 1715), which were recorded in the Japanese Palace (Dresden) inventory of 1721-27 (the Japanese Palace inventory numbers were removed before the pieces were sent) (3).
A 1733 biography states that it was the long-standing friendship between the two kings that precipitated the 1725 gift (4). In 1688 Augustus (then Prince of Saxony) had been touring France and Italy on his Grand Tour when war broke out and he was forced to flee France. He narrowly avoided being arrested, and Vittorio Amadeo (then Duke of Savoy) offered him shelter from the King of France’s henchmen in Turin, refusing to grant his request to turn him over to the French. Maureen Cassidy-Geiger argues that an additional reason behind the gift could be that ‘1725 was the moment when Meissen had achieved the status of royal gift’ (5). Not only was Augustus’s gift unusually large, but it was also the first time t