15th century AD

Chinese porcelain arriving in Venice by the fifteenth century paved the way for Italy's unparalleled appreciation for this fragile curiosity from abroad. The Venetian glass industry and majolica workshops responded to these princely collector's items, and the short-lived "Medici porcelain" manufactory established in Florence around 1575 was born of the experimentation that was to occupy alchemists and entrepreneurs across Europe in pursuit of a comparable ceramic body for the next century and a half. The formula for hard-paste porcelain was ultimately discovered at the court of Saxony, and in 1710 the Royal Porcelain Manufactory opened in the Albrechtsburg Castle at Meissen. Within two decades its products were regularly being sent abroad as royal gifts. One of the earliest and most important of these was presented in 1725 to Victor Amadcus II, king of Sardinia (see Figs. 3 and 4). (1) The strong ties between Dresden and Rome, fostered by the influential Albani family, who sponsored the conversion to Catholicism of Augustus II (the Strong), the elector of Saxony (r. 1694-1733) and king of Poland (r. 1697-1704 and 1709-1733), and his son Augustus III (Fig. 9), led to the regular exchange of gifts and favors from the 1720s onward and to several innovative commissions of Meissen porcelain. Similar ties developed between Dresden and the circle of noble Venetian families who hosted the crown princes of Saxony on their stays in La Serenissima, a courtesy acknowledged with gifts of armorial porcelains. With the marriage of Maria Amalia, a daughter of Augustus III, to Charles VII, king of Naples in 1738 (and later king Charles III of Spain), and the Italian grand tour of her brother Crown Prince Friedrich Christian (Fig. 1) from 1738 to 1740, regular shipments of Meissen porcelain were dispatched to Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, to serve as gifts. By 1755 Meissen porcelain was welcomed by the art dealers in Rome as partial payment for paintings destined for the picture gallery in Dresden, a clear demonstration of the respect the Italians accorded this coveted ceramic product. (2)

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The 1725 gift to the king of Sardinia is usually considered to be a token of friendship originally stemming from the visit to Savoy in 1688 of Frederick Augustus, the young Saxon prince who would inherit the Saxon throne in 1694, and in 1697 be crowned Augustus II of Poland. The timing, nearly forty years later, however, may indicate some other rationale--or was it simply that 1725 was the moment when Meissen achieved the status of royal gift? Comprised of nine coffee, tea, and chocolate services in custom-made boxes, two small "table services," five seven-piece sets of vases, and two chamber pots, the most easily identified component is the armorial service painted with the king's arms, one of the few undisputed works on porcelain by the head factory painter, Johann Gregor Horoldt (see Fig. 4). Notably, the gift included a number of objects that were ten or even fifteen years old, early manufactures that were culled from Augustus the Strong's renowned collection in the Japanisches Palais (Japanese Palace), including a set of vases in the factory's so-called red porcelain, which was in production only until 1713. Obviously the royal provenance gave these pieces added distinction akin to the gift of sixteen rare pieces of Chinese porcelain from the Medici collection made to the Saxon elector Christian I (r. 1586-1591) in 1590. The set of large white mounted Meissen vases included in the gift (Fig. 3) was originally designed by Raymond LcPlat about 1715 for presentation to Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) or the regent Philippe, duc d' Orleans, but that project had been abandoned when the size of the vases made it impossible to fire them, whole or in sections. Success was ultimately achieved by about 1717, and the resulting vases, the sections joined with gilt-metal mounts, became Augustus the Strong's personal property before they were hand-picked by him for delivery to Turin.

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Shipments of Meissen porcelain left Saxony for all parts of Europe the year the Concordat of 1737 was signed with Rome and a year before the wedding of Maria Amalia to Charles VII. The groundwork for these important events was laid by Annibale, Cardinal Albani (1682-1751), a nephew of Pope Clement XI (1649-1721) and brother of the noted antiquarian, collector, and diplomat Alessandro, Cardinal Albani (1692-1779). Besides receiving a hot beverage service for twelve, Annibale Albani received an altar garniture in Meissen porcelain, the first of its kind, which he presented to the cathedral in Urbino in 1749, where it can still be seen today. (3) At this date, the typical gift was still a coffee, tea, and chocolate service for six or twelve in a presentation box. Sets of vases and special commissions went only to heads of state or people of special distinction.