A very rare Meissen armorial tureen and cover from the Münnich Service, circa 1738

probably modelled by J. J. Kändler, of oval form, modelled with reed handles issuing from bearded male masks, painted with the arms within the Collar and Badge of the Russian Order of St. Andrew above the motto Obsequio et candour, flanked by martial trophies hung with swags, and small scattered sprigs of indianische Blumen, the rim moulded with 'Sulkowski-Ozier' basketwork, impressed .97, incised Dreher's mark of a cross and four dots for Andreas Schieffer, one handle lacking,

Given by Augustus III of Poland and Saxony to Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich in 1740;
Thence by family descent to the present owner

There is a flat chip to the rim of the cover, measuring approximately 1.5cm. wide. One handle of the tureen is lacking, with a clean break just above the shell headpiece of the mask. For all sales which take place on or after 1 February 2015, please note that the rate of buyer's premium for each lot (charged as a percentage of the hammer price achieved for that lot) has been revised and shall be calculated at the thresholds set out below: Buyer's premium is 25% of the hammer price up to and including £100,000; Buyer's premium is 20% of the hammer price on any amount in excess of £100, 000 up to and including £1,800,000; Buyer's premium is 12% of the hammer price on any amount in excess of £1,800,000. As stated above, the revised thresholds are effective as of 1 February 2015.
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Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich (9th May 1683 – 16th October 1767) began service under Augustus the Strong in 1716 and became General Inspector of Polish troops and Commander of the Royal Guard. After service in the French and Polish-Saxon armies, Münnich entered the service of Peter the Great of Russia in 1721, and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1722. In 1728 he was given the title of count (Graf) and was appointed commander in chief of the Russian Army by Peter II. In 1734 during the War of the Polish succession, commanding 15,000 troops, Münnich took part in the siege of Gdańsk, where a claimant to the Polish throne, Stanisław Leszczyński I, had been hiding. In the same year Münnich was awarded the order of St. Andrew.

“An individual biography can be a portrait of an age, and the figure of Münnich, a Saxon, working in Russian service probably represents the best embodiment of Russia's new Europeanized cultural landscape" (Lydia Liackhova, In a Porcelain Mirror: Reflections of Russia from Peter I to Empress Elizabeth, Fragile Diplomacy,  2007, pp. 70-71). See also the detailed discussion of the service by Anette Loesch , Ulrich Pietsch, Meissen for the Czars, 2004, pp. 50-51.

A plate from this service was sold in these rooms on 12^th June 2008, Russian Works of Art, lot 722; another was sold on 2nd December 2003, lot 29. A square shaped dish and a plate from the service were in the Hoffmeister collection, illustrated by Dieter Hoffmeister in the collection catalogue Meissener Porzellan Des 18. Jahrhunderts, Band II, 1999, no. 346 and 347, subsequently offered for sale at Bonhams London, The Hoffmeister collection Part 1, 25th June 2009, lot 77 and Part 3, 24th November 2010, lot 70. For a discussion of the arms and family, see Dieter Hoffmeister, op. cit. pp. 604-606.

A tureen and cover of similar form, formerly in the Mannheimer Collection, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (published by A. L. den Blaauwen, 2000, cat. no 85). Den Blaauwen, op.cit. refers to Kändler possibly working on a variant of the model in 1733, namely a tureen with a basketwork border.