Rare display case with merchant ship painting, circa 1774. Meissen.

Dot marks above "4," 1 scratch mark. Mark: H.

Polychromatic painting, gilded. L 39.5 cm.

Oval base plate for a four-legged tureen: with a recessed quatrefoil center panel, two wide, openwork rocaille handles, and a finely polychromatic painted scene depicting a merchant’s voyage with numerous figures in the center panel; on the flag, colorful Native American scattered flowers. A short, non-continuous hairline crack on the footring.

The model for the présentoir is the so-called “Finkenstein Service,” which was presumably a gift from Frederick the Great to his envoy, secret state and cabinet minister, and closest friend, Karl Wilhelm Finkenstein (1714–1800). The French-style design is based on a model by Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis (1690–1774, Paris), who was a goldsmith and bronze caster, as well as a sculptor and designer for the porcelain manufactories in Vincennes and Sèvres.

Bibliography: Jedding, Herrmann, European Porcelain, Vol. I—From the Beginnings to 1800, Munich 1971, p. III/268, fig. 832.