A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish
Former property of Augustus III
With the far east symbols of longevity:
flaming tortoise, dragon, crane, bamboo and pine-tree
Porcelain and painting, 1730
Crossed swords mark in overglaze blue
Incised AR-mark from 1734
Ø 24,8 cm (9 3/4 inch)
Provenance:
Dr. Max Fahrländer
(former president of the association ‘Keramikfreunde der Schweiz’)
A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish, former property of Augustus III WE 2846 / 16
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The incised monogram AR is more than rare. Up to now, there are
only two Meissen pieces known which bear this particular mark.
Beside the present dish there is one other carrying the tiger-roundbamboo motive, which can be found in the Collection Ernst Schneider,
Hetjens-Museum Düsseldorf (Weber I p. 89 fig. 39 a-c).
The design of the presented dish refers to a Japanese example (from
ca. 1700), its painting shows five symbols of longevity (cf. Collection Arnhold no. 234.1 p. 505; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in Porceain for Palaces no. 123; Coll.
Syz in Shono no. 55; Fitski fig. 215 detail).
As the crossed swords mark in overglaze blue shows the dish was part
of the so called Hoym- / Lemaire affair. The comparative pieces which
are mentioned in the inventory of the Japanese Palace (1770) and
‘Turmzimmer’ (1769) bear all the palace number ‘N-49-W’ – but not
the AR monogram.
‘Fifteen pieces of ten-sided dishes with a brown line at the rim,
painted with a green dragon, birds and flowers, 1 1/2 [Saxon] inch
high, 10 1/2 inch [= 24,7 cm] diameter: no. 49.’
(cf. German quote: Boltz 1996 S. 73)
Of these fifteen dishes, only 6 pieces are known today:
–
–
–
–
–
2 pieces in the ‘Johanneums-Auktion’ (07. - 08.10.1919 no. 179-180 plate 21)
= Coll. Klemperer (no. 173, 174 without fig.)
Rückert 1966 (p. 91, no. 291, plate 75)
= Shono (no. 56)
Coll. Arnhold (no. 234)
= Coll. Simon Goldblatt Esq. (Sotheby’s 29.06.1959 no. 293)
= Coll. Schnyder von Wachtensee (Sotheby’s 29.06.1982 no. 17 )
Coll. Ludwig (no. 47)
Newman (Vol. 1 fig. 37)
Additionally, there is another dish published in the Düsseldorf exhibition catalogue (1997, no 144). This piece bears the inventory number
‘N-153-W’, which refers usually to dishes with the Shiba Onko motive.
A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish, former property of Augustus III WE 2846 / 16
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The dishes’ decoration and its symbols are detailly described by
Shono (pp. 33 f.). We can summarise:
One half of the plate’s lip is orned by botanical motives: a pine-tree,
bamboo plants and thick bamboo which is – because of its toughness
– signifying long life, a blooming wild rose and a typical Kakiemon
landscape. The other half of the rim is showing cranes and a sea-tortoise belonging in Chinese myth to the ‘four holy animals‘ and to the
‘animals of four cardinal points’. The tortoise has a long haired tail,
also a symbolising of long life. Coming out of sea, it just reaches the
sandy ground. Here we can see, that the elements are figured: crane
for sky, pine and bamboo for earth, tortoise for sea. The well of the
plate bears a coiled, green dragon as metaphor of spring.
The description refers to the Japanese original, but it completely
matches with our Meissen dish.
Japanese original from the Collection Arnhold (no. 234.1)
A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish, former property of Augustus III WE 2846 / 16
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The incised AR monogram
In terms of marking, production and sale the Hoym- / Lemaire Affair
entailed serious consequences for the Meissen manufactory. On the
26th of November 1733, Augustus the Strong and his son Augustus III
enacted a prohibition of sale of ‘Alt Indianische Porzellane’ (‘Old Indian porcelain’) which includes all porcelain pieces inspired by Japanese and Chinese examples. The leading minister and director of the
manufactory, Count Sulkowski instructed his staff::
‘it is forbidden to produce and sell vases and service pieces which
are decorated in the manner of ‘Old Indian style’ without the King’s
consent’ (cf. German quote: Weber I p. 89)
But the manufacory’s commission and Höroldt achieved a relaxation
of this ban. In order to do so they sent a larger number of Kakiemon
pieces to the King. On the basis of these porcelains the King decided
which designs had to be preserved exclusively for court and which
were free for sale on the market. The first examples (it is not known
how many there were) received an incised AR monogram on the back,
the latter the sign NB (altogether 19 porcelains).
This decision of the King also was communicated to the manufactory.
On the 8th of april 1734, Sulkowski again commanded:
‘By the order of the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony it is not
allowed to produce Old Indian porcelains bearing the King’s name
AR, except for his Majesty himself. It is different in case of the other
19 pieces marked with the incised NB. These can be produced for
the warehouse and sold.
Dresden, April 8th in the year of 1734 – AJSulkowsymp’
(cf. German quote: Weber I p. 89; Boltz 1996 p. 99)
Incised AR monogram and crossed
swords mark in enamel blue on the
backside of our dish
A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish, former property of Augustus III WE 2846 / 16
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As mentioned above, only two Kakiemon porcelains (incl. our own)
with incised AR monogram are known so far.*
The crossed swords mark in enamel blue on the present dish’s bottom
and also the lacking palace inventory number lead us to the following
conclusion: The design goes back to a Japanese example, probably of
the Collection of Augustus the Strong. The dish was made on behalf of
the Parisian merchant Lemaire. But neither it could not be delivered
to him nor sold on the Parisian market. At the time when the affair
was uncovered (in March 1731) the dish must have been still in the
manufactory. Comparative pieces which were confiscated at the place
of Count Hoym (beginning of April 1731) have been signed with the
palace inventory number ‘N-49-W’.
Flaming Tortoise
This design also appears on some Chelsea porcelains. We do not know
whether these were copied of a Meissen or Japanese example. The
Chelsea sales catalogue calls this particular decoration ‘Flaming Tortoise’ (Jap. = Minogame) (Fitski p. 159). This term was also partly used in
the Meissen literature (cf. Rückert 1966; Porcelain for Palaces no. 330).
*Zu dem ganzen Thema siehe hierzu eingehend und ausführlich: Julia Weber a.a.O.
S. 89 f. Claus Boltz hatte in Keramos 153 / 1996 (S. 7) zur Suche nach KakiemonPorzellanen mit eingeschnittener AR-Marke aufgerufen. Bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt
war kein einziges Porzellan mit eingeschnittener AR-Marke bekannt. 2009 (Keramos 206 S. 28) erwähnt Boltz die große Platte aus dem Gelben Löwen-Service der
Sammlung Schneider, die Julia Weber erstmals 2013 in ihrem grundlegenden Werk
über die Kakiemonporzellane abbildet und würdigt.
A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish, former property of Augustus III WE 2846 / 16
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LiteraturE
Ayers, John; Impey, Oliver; Mallet J.V.G.: Porcelain for Palaces. (1990)
Boltz, Claus: Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar, 1769.
In Keramos 153 / 1996
Anmerkungen und Corrigenda. In Keramos 206 / 2009
Cassidy-Geiger, Maureen: The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain 1710-50. (London 2008)
Fitski, Menno: Kakiemon Porcelain. Rijks Museum (Amsterdam 2011)
Hanemann, Regina (Hg.): Goldchinesen und indianische Blumen. Die Sammlung Ludwig in Bamberg. (2010)
Newman, Michael: Die deutschen Porzellan-Manufakturen im 18. Jahrhundert. Band I. (Braunschweig 1977)
Shono, Masako: Japanisches Aritaporzellan im sogenannten „Kakiemonstil“ als
Vorbild für die Meissener Porzellanmanufaktur. (Munich 1973)
Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Ludwig: Porzellansammlung Gustav von Klemperer.
private press (Dresden 1928)
Weber, Julia: Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern.
Volume I (Munich 2013)
Exhibition catalogue Frühes Meissener Porzellan. Kostbarkeiten aus deutschen
Privatsammlungen. Hetjens-Museum (Düsseldorf 1997)
A rare ten-sided Meissen Kakiemon dish, former property of Augustus III WE 2846 / 16
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