A rare Meissen sauciere and cover, circa 1741-45

Each moulded with the Alt Brandenstein pattern to the rims, painted with the 'Gelber Löwe' pattern of a tiger curled around bamboo and flanked by flowers, with further scattered flowers and insects, gilt-edged rims, the spout and side-handle moulded and embellished in gilding, the cover with a branch handle with flower terminals, 14cm high; 21.7cm across including handle, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, impressed 24 (minor restoration to applied leaves and flowers, small flat chip to tip of spout) (2)

Provenance:
The Rosa Alba Collection of Meissen Porcelain

There are several mentions in J.F. Eberlein's work records between 1741-1743 of the service ordered by the Oberküchenmeister Friedrich August von Brandenstein, though the service has yet to be identified and it is not known whether he ordered it for the court or for himself. No service of this pattern is recorded in the surviving inventories of the Saxon court pantries, though a service fitting this description was among the vast quantity of porcelain seized by the King Friedrich II of Prussia in 1745 at the end of the Second Silesian War. See J. Weber, Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, II (2013), pp. 453-455, and nos. 474-481 for further pieces from the service in the Dr. Ernst Schneider Collection.