531 - Meissen Two Vases and Dish with Coloured Flowers and Gold Rim, First Quality, Crossed Swords Mark

Meissen Two Vases and Dish with Coloured Flowers and Gold Rim, First Quality, Crossed Swords Mark Porcelain, polychrome painted, gilt, glazed. Three pieces by the Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory. 1) Globular vase with a short, drawn-in neck, to the front a bouquet of a yellow and violet blossom and orange blossoms, to the reverse blue and yellow scattered flowers, the rim and foot ring gilt. H. 10.5 cm. 2) Small vase with a bulbous body and flaring mouth, to the front a bouquet of purple asters and red blossoms, gold rim. H. 6.5 cm. 3) Oval dish with a shaped, scalloped rim, the border with basketwork in relief, in the well a bouquet of a purple aster, blue blossoms and red buds, on the border four scattered flowers, gold rim. 3x12.5x16.5 cm (HxWxD). The undersides with the underglaze blue crossed swords mark without pommel, together with the impressed model number and the red painter's number. Good condition. The Meissen porcelain manufactory was founded in 1710 by decree of Augustus the Strong and began work the same year at the Albrechtsburg; since 1918 it has traded as the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen. The crossed electoral swords from the Saxon coat of arms have been the binding factory mark since 1731 and are applied in underglaze blue. The form of the swords mark changed several times: until 1924 the hilts carried pommels (the so-called pommel swords), from 1924 to 1934 a dot stood between the blades, and thereafter the swords were painted without a pommel. Flower painting after European models, the so-called German Flowers, supplanted the East Asian decors of the early period around 1740; it drew on the botanical engravings of the time and became a lasting decor of the manufactory. The Coloured Flowers decor continues this tradition with naturalistically painted bouquets and scattered flowers on vases, dishes and tableware.