A Meissen Chinoiserie small Circular Dish or Stand, Circa 1723-24

The scene is taken from a print by Martin Engelbrecht of circa 1720, 'Nobilissimus Dominus Kiakouli in Villa sua/Der Hoch Edle Herr Kiakouli in seinem Lust Hause' from the series "Sinesische Trachten und Gebräuche nach jetziger beliebten Art zum ausschneiden dienlich".

Two early silver-mounted tankards painted with variations of this scene were in the historic collects ion of Margarethe and Dr. Franz Oppenheimer, Berlin & Vienna. Both were acquired by Fritz Mannheimer between 1936-1939, and were later sold in his sale at Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, October 14-21, 1952, lots 312-313. The former later entered the Dr. Marcel Nyffeler collects ion, Zürich, and is now in the Carabelli collects ion, illustrated in Ulrich Pietsch, Frühes Meißener Porzellan Sammlung Carabelli, 2000, pp. 132-133, no. 55. The latter was subsequently acquired by Ralph Wark, and is now part of the Stout collects ion, Memphis. A third tankard was sold at Bonhams London, 2 July 2019, lot 16. Of the three tankards, the scene on the Stout example bears closest resemblance to the present lot, and both appear to use the Engelbrecht print as a source, rather than the drawing included in the Schulz-Codex. See Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, 'Graphic Sources for Meissen Porcelain: Origins of the Print collects ion in the Meissen Archives', Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 31, 1996, pp. 103-104.

Sotheby's Scientific Research department used noninvasive XRF for this lot to screen the green enamel for chromium, which was not detected.