The center finely molded with two swans swimming among among reeds and rushes, a heron in flight above and a second heron eating a fish at left, the spirally shell-molded border painted with scattered indianische Blumen, the coat of arms at the border flanked by lion supporters and blue mantling, within a shaped rim with gilt dentil ornament
12 in. (30.5 cm.) diameter

Count Heinrich von Brühl, Schloss Pförten.
By descent through the von Brühl family, Schloss Pförten, until looted by the Soviet army, 1945.
With Armand Wittekind, Geneva, by repute acquired from a Brazilian Ambassador.
With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, acquired from the above, 1956.
Saemy Rosenberg, New York, by 1970; Sotheby’s, New York, 8 November 1985, lot 109.

The present work is being offered for sale pursuant to an agreement between the consignor and the Heirs of Friedrich Joseph Graf von Brühl. This resolves any dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the buyer.

The service originally consisted of 2,200 pieces, with some pieces loaned to museums but the main part remained at the family’s Silesian seat, Schloss Pförten. In 1943, over half of the pieces in the original service were bundled into crates and hidden, only to be discovered at the end of the war as the Red Army into the region, looted and partially destroyed.

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Lot Essay

The Swan Service was commissioned by Heinrich Graf von Brühl (1700-1763), the director of the Meissen factory from 1733-63, in 1737, on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Anna Franziska von Kolowrat-Krakowska. The arms are those of the count and countess. The molded decoration was modeled by J.J. Kändler with the assistance of J.F. Eberlein. The aquatic motifs represented in the molding, including the reeds and four waterfowl to the present dish as well as Neptunes, dolphins, crabs and mollusks elsewhere in the service, played on Count Brühl's name, which derived from the Middle German word for a swampy lowland. The emphasis on molding and three-dimensional decoration marked the start of a new chapter for Meissen, in contrast to the emphasis on colorful enamel decoration that had predominated since the 1720s. The Swan Service would appear to be the largest service produced in the 18^thcentury and R. Rückert, Meissener Porzellan, Munich, 1966, p. 118, estimates its original size to have been between 2,200 and 2,400 pieces. Rückert notes that although the intricately molded surfaces of the the Swan Service's dishes may been impractical for eating, they doubtless produced a magnificent effect as display pieces. The modeling of dishes in five sizes began in 1738. For a full discussion of the service see Ulrich Pietsch (ed.), Schwanenservice - Meissener Porzellan für Heinrich Graf von Brühl, Leipzig, 2000.