Advanced Search 
Cup and Saucer from Part Coffee Service
Made at: Meissen Manufactory (Germany)
German
about 1723, decorated 1725–30
Object Place: Meissen, Germany
Medium/Technique
Hard-paste porcelain with colored enamel and gilded decoration
Dimensions
Overall (cup): 7.8 x 11 x 7.3 cm (3 1/16 x 4 5/16 x 2 7/8 in.)
Overall (saucer): 2.6 x 13.1 cm (1 x 5 3/16 in.)
Overall (saucer): 2.6 x 13.1 cm (1 x 5 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection
Accession Number65.2078a-b
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionPart of a Coffee Service (65.2076a-b - 65.2080). Cup with an everted rim, tapers gently towards the base, and rests on a simple footring. The saucer is in the shape of a shallow dish. Painted with chinoiserie figures depicting the brewing and drinking of tea or coffee or the smoking of pipes.
Marks
Cup: none. Saucer: crossed swords with pommels in underglaze blue; incised slash in footring.
ProvenanceAbout 1725/1730, part of a larger, now-dispersed porcelain service [see note]. About 1930s/1950s, acquired by Forsyth Wickes (b.1876 - d.1964), New York and Newport, RI; 1965, bequest of Forsyth Wickes to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 24, 1965)
NOTE: Other pieces from this service, which are similarly decorated, are held by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Additional pieces were sold through Christie's, New York, November 16, 1999, lot 311. It is not known when the service was broken up, but very probably by the first half of the 20th century. The pieces sold through Christie's were said to have been acquired before World War II, and Wickes was buying between about the 1930s and 1950s.
NOTE: Other pieces from this service, which are similarly decorated, are held by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Additional pieces were sold through Christie's, New York, November 16, 1999, lot 311. It is not known when the service was broken up, but very probably by the first half of the 20th century. The pieces sold through Christie's were said to have been acquired before World War II, and Wickes was buying between about the 1930s and 1950s.