P038 - MEISSEN TEA CADDY AND A COVER

 

The caddy circa 1725/28, the matched cover circa 1740, painted 63.

Of hexagonal form, each vertical panel painted with a Chinoiserie scene

5 ¼ in. (13.3 cm) high

 

LITERATURE

Cleo M. and G. Ryland Scott Jr., Antique Porcelain Digest, Newport, England, 1961, p. 188, plate 43, fig. 174.

 

EXHIBITION

On display in the Scott-Allen Collection at The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia from 1976 until 1996

 

On display in the “George Ryland Scott Collection” at The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art between June 1955 and May 1960

 

NOTES BY CLEO M. AND G. RYLAND SCOTT, JR in the late 1950’s

MEISSEN HEXAGONAL TEA CADY CR. 1722-23

This tea caddy was purchased in 1950 in Berne, Switzerland, from W. Staehelin. The shape is early Bottger and the decoration consists of Chinamen, trees, flowers, birds and insects. Some scenes depict the Emperor and others the Empress, all in colorful costumes. The colors are the intense Herold red, green, lavender, etc. Each of the six sides is decorated as a panel with the wide gold bands separating them. A typical panel shows a large Chinaman walking in the garden with a basket while on a tree overhead are two squirrels at play and birds and butterflies all around. The painting is said to be the work of J. G. Herold himself. The date is cr. 1722-23 and is before the mark. A gold number 63, however, is on the unglazed base. The decoration has no gold added to the enamel colors and this is thought by some to indicate the earliest period.