Lot 187 | Meissen | EXTRAORDINARY PORCELAIN COFFEE SERVICE WITH 'FLÜGELMUSTER' DECOR

EXTRAORDINARY PORCELAIN COFFEE SERVICE WITH 'FLÜGELMUSTER' DECOR.

Meissen.
Date: Before 1924.
Maker/Designer: Model Rudolf Hentschel, 1901.
Technique: Porcelain, decor painted under glaze in Seladon and blue contour drawing.
Description: Along the rims and partly drawn into the centre of the lid, stylised decor with contours reminiscent of ginkgo leaves and with wing-like shapes.
A total of 20 pieces, consisting of:
5 small plates (ø 15cm),
6 coffee cups (Height 5cm) with
6 saucers (ø 14cm),
1 coffee pot (Height 25cm),
1 sugar bowl on a solid base (Height 11,5cm, ø 18cm),
1 large cake platter (ø 37cm).
Mark: Swords mark, painted blue under glaze, various blue painter's marks and porcelain former's marks .
Mark: The cups, saucers, coffee pot, cake platter and sugar bowl with grinds.

Literature:
- Bröhan, Karl: Kunst der Jahrhundertwende und der zwanziger Jahre, Sammlung Karl H. Bröhan, vol. 2, Berlin 1977, cf. p.308f, cat. 447.
- Bröhan-Museum (ed.): Porzellan. Kunst und Design 1889 bis 1939. Vom Jugendstil zum Funktionalismus, Berlin 1996, cf. p.45j, cat. no. 18

Originally titled "T Glatt", the "Flügelmusterservice" ("Wing Pattern Service") is today considered a true excellence of Art Nouveau tableware. After the World's Fair in 1901, the Meissen company organised an internal competition, the aim of which was to revise the previous dinnerware and its designs and to "remake the handles and grips" in keeping with the spirit of the times. Rudolf Hentschel's design of the wing pattern, with its light and elegant forms, won him first place in 1903. The manufacture was so enthusiastic about his design that, in addition to paying a bonus to the employee, the service was the only one to be presented in an advertising brochure - "The Blue Swords". Hentschel also designed the remarkable decor, and this design, together with the "Arnica Service" designed a little later, brought the manufacture a notable economic upswing.