A rare large Meissen vase 1817

of campana form, finely painted on the front and reverse with views of Dresden and Pillnitz and on one side with the gilt monogram M L A and on the other with the inscription DEN XXVIII. OCTOBER MDCCCXVII, beneath a band of ten portraits of the Saxon and Austrian royal famililes, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, painted numeral 4.

The vase commemorates the marriage of Princess Marie-Anna of Saxony to Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany, Archduke of Austria, which took place by proxy in Dresden on October 28, 1817. Marie-Anna (1799-1832) was the daughter of Prince Maximilian of Saxony, brother of King Friedrich August I, whose portrait, together with his wife, Queen Marie Amalia, is one of those which appears on the vase.