A rare Meissen teabowl and saucer, circa 1725-30. Photo Bonhams

Finely painted with a continuous chinoiserie scene around the teabowl and a large scene on the saucer, the gilt-edged rims with a broad band of floral scrollwork enclosing floral motifs and panels, a butterfly in the well of the teabowl, the reverse of the saucer with three iron-red concentric circles, the teabowl: 4.2cm high; the saucer: 11.7cm diam, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, incised / inside footrim of teabowl and // to saucer (2). Lot 12. Estimate: £7,000 - 9,000 / €8,500 - 11,000 / US$ 11,000 - 14,000

Notes: Only two other teabowls and saucers with this rare decoration are recorded, presumably from the same service; published by Cleo M. Scott / G. Ryland Scott, Antique Porcelain Digest (1961), col. pl. 19, no. 95, and pl. 43, no. 177.

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