A rare Meissen octagonal two-handled beaker and saucer, circa 1729-31. Photo: Bonhams.

Decorated with panels of scrolling Ruyi tendrils reserved on an iron-red ground, alternating with flower sprigs and Buddhist symbols, the saucer with a flower in the centre within concentric iron-red circles, crossed swords marks in blue enamel, impressed .. (for Johann Martin Kittel) to both, incised Japanese Palace inventory number N=343-/ W to both (2). Estimate £12,000 - 15,000 (€15,000 - 19,000)

Provenance: The Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden

It is uncertain whether the Japanese model for this decoration came from the collections of Augustus the Strong, or was supplied by the Paris merchant, Rudolph Lemaire, as part of his abortive scheme to obtain Meissen copies of Asian porcelain and sell them as originals. In any case, 42 pairs of double-handled "coffee cups" decorated in this style were among the porcelain confiscated in April 1731 in the house of Lemaire's patron, Count von Hoym, and subsequently integrated into the collections in the Japanese Palace (J. Weber, Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, vol. II (2013), pp. 145f., and cat. nos. 118 and 119 for examples in the Ernst Schneider Collection).

The 1770 and 1779 inventories of the Japanese Palace record under no. 343: 'Zwey und Vierzig Stück 8.eckichte Coffeé-Tassen, mit 2. Henckeln, rothen Feldern und Zierrathen auch Blumen gemahlt, 2½. Zoll hoch, 3¼. Zoll in Diam: und Zwey und Vierzig detto Unterschaalen, 1¼. Zoll tief, 5½. Zoll in Diam: No. 343' [42 octagonal coffee cups, with two handles, red panels and decoration and decorations also painted flowers [...] and 42 ditto saucers...] (quoted by Claus Boltz, Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar 1769, in Keramos 153 (July 1996), p. 57).

A similar beaker and saucer with Japanese Palace inventory numbers 343 and 344 in the Stout Collection is illustrated by C. Nelson/L. Roberts, A History of Eighteenth-Century German Porcelain: The Warda Stevens Stout Collection (2013), no. 70.

Bonhams. FINE EUROPEAN CERAMICS. London, New Bond Street, 18 Jun 2014 - http://www.bonhams.com/