Lot 18. A Meissen octagonal sugar box and cover of 'Half-Figure Service' type, circa 1723-25, 11.5cm., 4 1/2 in. wide. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000. Photo: Sotheby's. 

painted by Johann Gregorius Höroldt with chinoiserie figures in half-length at various pursuits against a mottled-blue background, reserved in quatrefoil cartouches filled with Böttger-lustre, enriched by iron-red and gilded scrollwork, the cover with a band of gilded-scales, the sides of the box with small branches of indianische-Blumen, crossed swords mark in blue enamel, Quantité: 2

Provenance: With Fischer-Böhler Antiquitäten, Munich;
acquired from the above in April 1965.

Note: 'Half-figure' type decoration is regarded as being among the finest of Meissen chinoiserie painting, and usually attributed to the painter Johann Gregorius Höroldt. Characterised by finely detailed figures at pursuits, usually cut off at the waist, and often before minimal blue-washed cloudy sky. Four teabowls and saucers of this type with similar gilded-scale borders at the rims were sold at Christie's Geneva, 31st May 1985, lots 181 and 182; and a teapot and cover was sold in these rooms, 29th June 1982, lot 95. Most recently a large group of 'Half-figure' teawares from the Marouf collection was sold at Bonhams London, 5th December 2012, lot 19. Other examples are in the Wark collection, see Ulrich Pietsch, Collection catalogue, London, 2011, pp. 140-141, nos. 112-115.

Sotheby's. From Earth to Fire, Londres, 04 mai 2017, 10:30 AM