Meissen armorial dish from the 'Coronation Service', circa 1733-34. Estimate: £10,000-15,000. Photo: Bonhams

LONDON.- Most people needing a dinner service might pop down to John Lewis, Harvey Nicks or Marks and Spencer and if they are really pushing the boat out may go to Harrods. 

Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Lithuania did things differently. He commissioned Meissen to produce some of the most lavish and sophisticated dinner services ever made. Today largely split up and distributed world wide, every plate or cup from these famous dinner services causes excitement when they appears on the market for sale. Some of these items, known as white gold in their heyday were stored in what was called the Japanese Palace in Dresden that Augustus built to house his finest porcelain. 

Bonhams sale of a European private collection of Meissen porcelain on 23rd May in London offers an opportunity to observe what a collector with a particularly fine eye for the best Meissen porcelain managed to assemble. 

Lot 39 is a Meissen armorial dish from the 'Coronation Service', circa 1733-34, painted with the arms of Saxony and Poland and scattered floral sprigs and bound wheat-sheaves, estimated to sell for £10,000-15,000. It comes from the Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden. 

The 'Coronation Service' was probably ordered for the coronation of Friedrich August II of Saxony as king (Augustus III) of Poland in Cracow on 17th January 1734. The service - the first Meissen armorial table service - was presumably intended only for display on a buffet, as silver was used on the royal table. The service was delivered to the Japanese Palace in Dresden in 1734.

Meissen armorial dish from the 'Coronation Service' (detail), circa 1733-34. Estimate: £10,000-15,000. Photo: Bonhams

Painted with the arms of Saxony and Poland and scattered sprigs of indianische Blumen and bound wheat-sheaves, gilt foliate scroll- and strapwork border, 25.5cm diam, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, incised Japanese Palace inventory number N=147-/ W, incised / (gilt rim worn in places). Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000 / €12,000 - 18,000 / US$ 16,000 - 24,000

Provenance: The Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden (from 1734)

The 'Coronation Service' was probably ordered for the coronation of Friedrich August II of Saxony as king (Augustus III) of Poland in Cracow on 17th January 1734. The service - the first Meissen armorial table service - was presumably intended for display on a buffet, as silver was used on the royal table (U. Pietsch /C. Banz, Triumph der blauen Schwerter (2010), pp. 277f). The service was delivered to the Japanese Palace in Dresden in 1734, when, according to a delivery specification (published by C. Boltz, Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770, in Keramos 153 (1996), p. 91), it comprised 77 parts in total, including 37 plates. In the inventory of the Japanese Palace of 1770 (Boltz 1996, p. 76), one finds the following entry under number 147: 'Ein Tafel-Service, mit dem Königl. Pohlnis, und ChurFürstl. Sächsi. Wappen, fein mit Golde und Zierrathen, aufm Boden mit gebundenen Korn-Aehren, und kleinen Blümgen, der Rand sehr reich mit vergoldeten Zierrathen eingefaßt' (a table service with the Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon arms, fine with gold and decorations, with bundles of corn sheaves and small flowers on the surface, the rim with very rich gold decorations). The inventory lists the same pieces as the 1734 delivery specification, except for three missing tureens and a broken plate. According to the catalogue of the Wark Collection, part of the service was transferred to the Hofconditorei (court pantry) in 1792, and was used at the Dresden Residence for special court functions (The Wark Collection Early Meissen Porcelain (1984), p. 225).

In addition to the examples cited by Dieter Hoffmeister, Meissen Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts: Sammlung Hoffmeister (1999), vol. II, nos. 343-344, other plates from the service are in the Seattle Art Museum (inv. no. 69.201, gift of Martha and Henry Isaacson); in the Ludwig Collection, Bamberg (Hennig (ed.) 1995, no. 142); and in the Arnhold Collection, New York (M. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain (2008), no. 186).

Another exciting item that will enthuse collectors is lot 37, a Meissen yellow-ground plate from the 'Gelbe Jagdservice', (Yellow hunting service) circa 1733-34 with a lobed panel in the centre painted with a phoenix and three sprigs of flowers, three quatrelobe panels around the brown-edged rim painted with flowering branches, crossed swords it is estimated to sell for £10,000-15,000. 

This service is the only Meissen dinner service known to have a coloured background. It was ordered around 1730 by Augustus the Strong, and later became known as the "yellow hunting service", because of the similarity of the ground colour to the livery of the Saxon court huntsmen.

A Meissen yellow-ground plate from the 'Gelbe Jagdservice', (Yellow hunting service) circa 1733-34. £10,000-15,000. Photo: Bonhams.

Reserved with a lobed panel in the centre painted with a phoenix and three sprigs of indianische Blumen, three quatrelobe panels around the brown-edged rim painted with flowering branches, 22.8cm diam, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, incised Japanese Palace inventory numbers N=148-/ W, impressed Dreher's mark of a cross within a circle for Johann Christoph Pietzsch (small areas of stacking wear to yellow ground, very small haircrack to rim) (2). Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000 / €12,000 - 18,000 / US$ 16,000 - 24,000

A closely similar plate as well as a tureen and fluted dish from the same service are exhibited in the Royal Collection in Dresden (Pietsch / Banz, ibid., p. 97). Two plates were sold in the Johanneum Duplicate Sale, Dresden 1920, lots 145 and 146; a plate from the Deane Johnson Collection, Bel Air, was sold by Sotheby's New York, 9 December 1972, lot 67; another by Christie's Geneva, 9 May 1988, lot 63; another plate was sold by Christie's London on 14 July 2006, lot 84.

Another very similar plate from the same service is in the Dr. Ernst Schneider Collection in the Lustheim Castle (A. Schommers/ M. Grigat-Hunger, Meißener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts (2004), no. 52), and further plates are in the Arnhold Collection, New York (M. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain (2008), nos. 185a-b), and in the Hoffmeister Collection (D. Hoffmeister, Meissen Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts: Sammlung Hoffmeister (1999), vol. II, no. 272).

Sebastian Kuhn, Director of European Ceramics at Bonhams, comments: “These are not plates for everyday use, nor even for scrambled egg on Mother’s Day. They are almost beyond price and value, something to amaze and delight lovers of European history with which they were so inextricably tied up – used as diplomatic gifts, and status symbols. They speak of another time and other values, of art and excellence and privilege. Given their fragility each one is a miracle of survival.” 

Bonhams. 23 May 2012 10:30 a.m. London, New Bond Street. Fine Meissen Porcelain from a Private Collection