Two Meissen Three-Handled ‘Parrot and Spaniel’ Pattern Circular Baskets, Circa 1740 | Zwei runde Mei

each pierced and applied on the exterior with blue flowerheads, supported on double lion's paw feet issuing gilt scrolls enclosing a moulded shell motif below red or purple and grey feathers, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue to both, one with a dot

Diameter 8 3/4 in.

22.3 cm.

Literature
Horst Reber, Eine Rheinische Porzellan-Sammlung, Darmstadt, 2006, vol. I, pp. 90-91

Catalogue note
This pair of baskets are of unusual three-handled form and probably formed part of a privately commissioned extensive service, fifty-two pieces of which were, until 1927, in the Ole Olsens Collection, Copenhagen. Six pieces from the service are illustrated by Hermann Schmitz, Generaldirektor Ole Olsens Kunstsamlinger: Ole Olsens Art Collections / Ole Olsens Kunstsammlungen, Munich, 1924, vol. 2, pl. LVII, cat. no. 1462. The circular baskets are not among the list of service wares included in the Olsens group. A further pair of this seemingly rare form sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet, Property from the Collection of Mrs. Marietta Peabody Tree and the Late Mr. Ronald Tree, New York, 8 October 1976, lot 82; and a further example sold at Christie's Geneva, 12 November 1984, lot 135.

The plates and flat wares are distinguished by an elaborate foliate-scroll border interspersed with shell motifs in gilding and black enamel, which was not included on more complex forms such as the present basket, or on smaller tea wares. The pattern, which features a long-tailed parrot on a perch, startled by a barking dog, is generally thought to be based on designs by the engraver, globe-maker and map publisher, Petrus Schenk (1660-1711), who was active in Amsterdam and Leipzig. Although no direct source has been identified, a mezzotint by Schenk of his daughter Cecilia incorporates a parrot in the background. Parrots were a quick short hand for the exoticism of the Far East and were fashionable among the wealthy elite throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. An example of a teabowl with this pattern is in the Chitra Collection, London (collection no. 1475) and a plate is discussed by Rainer Rückert, Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, p. 147, cat no. 733. Another plate is illustrated by Ulrich Pietsch, Early Meissen Porcelain, The Wark Collection, London, 2011, p. 484, no. 576.

It is interesting to note that the same design was later used by Dutch draughtsmen, such as Cornelius Pronk (1691-1759), who supplied designs for Chinese painters to copy onto porcelain for export to Europe. Although Meissen pieces with this pattern are all painted in polychrome enamels, a Chinese porcelain teabowl and saucer with the same design, in blue and white with black enamel outlining, are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum no. 642&A-1903).

Cranfield University used non-invasive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for this lot to screen the green enamel for chromium, which was not detected, a result consistent with 18th century manufacture.
Additional Notices & Disclaimers

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