Lot 1241 Dα

The Meissen manufactory's 1744 personnel list records eleven so-called "Watteau painters", including Gottlob Siegmund Birckner and Johann Jacob Wagner, who were particularly talented in this field. The large number of painters specialising in these kinds of figural decorations after engravings of Watteau's works testifies to the popularity of his gallant French Rococo courtly scenes. The first service with green Watteau motifs was delivered to Naples for the husband of the Electoral Saxon Princess Maria Amalia in 1745, and the manufactory began in 1749 with the "Green Watteau Service" for the Saxon court, which was repeatedly supplemented in the following decades. The gold-rimmed pieces are decorated alternately with Gotzkowski relief flowers, German style flowers and groups of figures under trees in copper-green camaieu. King Johann of Saxony (1801 - 1873) was so enamoured of this decor that as late as 1860 he had an entire dining room in his summer residence, Pillnitz Palace, decorated with paintings in the style of Watteau and porcelain from the "Green Watteau Service". (Dr Ulrich Pietsch, 2006, on the SKD website, inv. no. PE 1086 a - d).