A Meissen porcelain Kakiemon circular bowl, cover and stand, circa 1730

Anonymous sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 23 October 2023, lot 1088;

Acquired at the above sale.

The present lot derives from a Japanese Kakiemon prototype and, as indicated by the Mercury caduceus mark, can be associated with the commission negotiated circa 1729–30 between Count Ernst Christoph von Hoym, then director of the Meissen porcelain manufactory, and the Parisian marchand-mercier Rudolph Lemaire. Intended for export to France, such wares were marketed as highly desirable Japanese originals. For comparative material, see Julia Weber, Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, Stiftung Ernst Schneider, Schloss Lustheim, Band II, Munich, 2013, p. 325, cat. no. 318, which illustrates an olio pot, later decorated with a related version of the pattern. A further lobed bowl and cover in this design, fitted with branch-form handles, the Property of a Gentleman, was sold, Sotheby’s, London, 28 February 1961, lot 134. Another example of the form, similarly decorated and mounted in silver, is in a private collection.