Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Lot 18*
A documentary Meissen silver-mounted tankard, circa 1725-28
5 December 2012, 13:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street£35,000 - £45,000
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Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
A documentary Meissen silver-mounted tankard, circa 1725-28
Painted with a chinoiserie scene within an elaborate gilt scrollwork cartouche filled with Böttger lustre and flanked by iron-red scroll and strapwork, surmounted by a chinoiserie figure kneeling on drapery flanked by vases and a small table and a dog, the sides of the cartouche with two further chinoiserie vignettes on scrollwork brackets, the scene depicting figures flanking a pedestal supporting an iron-red armorial below the initials 'ICM', the figure on the left holding an oval Böttger lustre shield inscribed in gold 'CarlssIMo/ In DVLgentI/ benIgno plo-/ IVsto patrIple/ tatIs ergo of../ fert fILIVS/ M.I.G.M', the reverse woth four birds and insects and indianische Blumen to the back and around the top of the handle, gilt scrollwork borders, the gilt interior of the cover inscribed 'Eleon. Frid. Moerlinin./ geb. Thomaein./ 1732.', the cover struck with maker's mark 'LW/P' and indistinct town mark, 18.2cm high,
Footnotes
Provenance:
Anon. sale, Christie's London, 18 December 2006, lot 48
Literature:
Ulrich Pietsch, Passion for Meissen (2010), no. 69
Since the inscription on the cover refers to 'Eleon[ore] Frid[erike] Moerlinin. geb. Thomaein', the initials above the arms on the tankard may refer to the Moerlin family. The dedication on the shield held by the figure refers to "the son M.I.G.M.", who presented the tankard to his most beloved, generous, kind and pious father in 1726 (MDCLLVVV + eleven times 1). The 1732 inscription on the cover of the tankard may refer to the daughter of the sculptor, Benjamin Thomae, who was employed by Böttger and taught Kaendler.
Höroldt executed a number of inscribed and dated tankards and beakers for people he knew, especially for his relatives. The present unrecorded tankard is an important addition to the group as the only armorial example.
A beaker in the Rijksmusem, Amsterdam was made for Höroldt's mother-in-law, Beate Christina Keil (A. L. den Blaauwen, Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum (2000), no. 41); he gave his wife a beaker on their wedding day, dated 26 November 1725 (U. Pietsch, Johann Gregorius Höroldt 1696-1775 (1996), no. 117) and a year later he gave a tankard to his father-in-law, dated 1st December 1726 (David Collection, Copenhagen, Pietsch (1996), no. 141). Two tankards - dated 6 and 9 July 1724 - with the name of George Ernst Keil have also survived (British Museum London, Pietsch (1996), no. 113; and Gustav von Gerhardt Collection, sold by Lepke's Berlin, 7-10 November 1911, lot 183). The Hermitage in St. Petersburg also has a tankard with the inscription G.E. Keil Meiszen 1726 (Den Blaauwen (2000), p. 80-81).
