Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland

c.1736 -
Royal Family of Saxony, Germany

possibly 1796 - c.1909
Principe Massimo Duca d'Ascoli, Rome, Italy, gift of the Royal Family of Saxony; D'Ascoli family by inheritance [1]

c.1909
Mr. Stern, Europe, purchased from the Duca d'Ascoli family [2]

c.1909 - still in 1938
Heinrich Rothberger (1868-1953), Vienna, Austria, purchased from Mr. Stern

1938/11/16-17
Offered at auction, "Sammlung B., Wien, Die Bestände Firma Ziffer i. L., Berlin, Porzellan aus Sammlung R., Wien, Frankfurter und anderer Privatbesitz," Hans W. Lange, Berlin, Germany, lot no. 588 [3]

1939
Adolf Weinmüller (1887-1958), Munich, Germany, and Vienna, Austria [4]

1939 - 1947
Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, Austria, purchased from Adolf Weinmüller [5]

1947 - 1948
Heinrich Rothberger (1868-1953), New York, USA, and Montreal, Canada, restituted by the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK) [6]

1948 - 1951
Frederick A. Stern, of Stern Inc., purchased from Heinrich Rothberger, Canada [7]

1951 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Frederick A. Stern, of Stern, Inc., [8]


Notes:
The main sources for this provenance are a) two letters from Frederick A. Stern, to Museum director, Perry Rathbone, dated January 12, 1949, and October 25, 1951; b) approximately twenty-seven official documents related to the restitution of Heinrich Rothberger's collection from the Kommission für Provenienzforschung, Vienna, Austria; and c) two email letters from Julia König, of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK), to Museum research assistant, Pam Stewart, dated June 16, 2003 and February 27, 2004 [SLAM document files].

[1] The sculpture was a gift from the Royal Family of Saxony to the Principe Massimo Duca d'Ascoli, possibly because the families were related by the marriage of Maria Christina Sabina, Countess von der Lausitz, granddaughter of Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, and Don Camillo (VIII) Massimiliano Massimo I, in 1796 [see "Burke's Peerage," London: Peerage LTC, 1977, p. 175-76].

[2] The statue was purchased by Frederick A. Stern's father directly from the d'Ascoli family in Rome, around 1909; in 1949 Frederick A. Stern writes to the Museum that his father had purchased it "about 40 years ago" [letter from Frederick A. Stern to Perry Rathbone, dated January 12, 1949, SLAM document files]. By the time Stern's father purchased the statue, it had been in the d'Ascoli family for "a long time," though exact dates are unknown. Stern sold it to prominent porcelain collector, Heinrich Rothberger, of Vienna, c.1909 [letter from Frederick A. Stern to Perry Rathbone, dated October 25, 1951, SLAM document files].

[3] On June 12, 1938, Rothberger filed for permission to export ninety-seven objects from his porcelain collection out of Austria to Hans W. Lange, an auctioneer in Berlin, Germany [document labeled MTA 1312, SLAM document files]. This first request was denied, and another export application was filed on August 18, 1938, for ninety-five porcelain objects [document labeled 4479/38, SLAM document files]. Attached to the first application is a three-page typed list of ninety-seven objects; the Meissen figure (256:1951a,b) appears on the second page, identified as "Meissner Figur. Auf. Pose, m. Vitrine" with a handwritten note "gut Mie ... Mal. Aug. d. Starke" [list titled "Porzellan Sammlung Heinrich Rothberger Wien" and numbered 22-24, SLAM document files]. Attached to the second application is a single typed list of ninety-five objects; the Meissen figure (256:1951a,b) appears in the left column, identified as "Meissner Figu Aug. Pese mit Vitrine," referring to a porcelain figure with a pedestal and vitrine [list titled "Verzeichnis," labeled Zl. 4479/38, SLAM document files]. An export document from the Bundesministerium für Finanzen bears stamps indicating that the shipment was sent to Germany [document titled "Raum für Abschreibungen," SLAM document files].

Within the title of the auction, the phrase "Porzellan aus Sammlung R., Wien" almost certainly refers to Heinrich Rothberger. In the auction catalogue illustration, the same firing cracks on the lower leg and base of the sculpture present in 256:1951 a,b, are clearly visible. [see Hans W. Lange, Berlin, Germany, November 16-17, 1938, "Sammlung B., Wien, Die Bestände Firma Ziffer i. L., Berlin, Porzellan aus Sammlung R., Wien, Frankfurter und anderer Privatbesitz," lot no. 588, ill. Tafel 40].

[4] Adolf Weinmüller was a prominent art dealer and auctioneer, and head of the art dealers' guild in Munich until the guild dissolved c.1938. The exact nature of the acquisition of the sculpture is unknown. No sales records have yet come to light, so it is not clear if Weinmüller purchased the object at auction or from Lange after the sale, or if a third party was involved [letter from Julia König to P. Stewart, June 16, 2003, SLAM document files].

[5] In October 1939 the object was acquired from Weinmüller and entered into the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK) collection, as Inventory Number Ke 7533. Between 1938 and 1945 the MAK purchased at least 12 pieces formerly in the Rothberger collection from Weinmüller [see König letter, Note [4]; see also letter from Julia König to P. Stewart, dated February 27, 2004, SLAM document files]. According to a letter submitted by Rothberger's lawyer, Camillo Limpens-Doernraedt, the MAK purchased significantly more objects from the Rothberger collection from Weinmüller: 11 objects on May 15, 1939, one object in October 1939, and 38 objects on October 12, 1940 [see letter from Camillo Limpens-Doernraedt to MAK, dated October 29, 1947, labeled zl.1116-47, SLAM document files].

[6] Through the intercession of Rothberger's lawyer Limpens-Doernraedt and the restitution program instituted by the Austrian government at the conclusion of World War II, the sculpture (along with numerous other pieces of Rothberger's collection) was returned by MAK to Rothberger, who had by then moved first to New York and subsequently to Canada. A request for authorization to export the porcelain objects along with a list of the specific objects was prepared on behalf of Rothberger and submitted to the Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Bureau of Monuments) by Limpens-Doernraedt; the statue (256:1951 a,b) was listed fourth: "Porzellanstatuette August des Starken. Meissen, um 1735" [letter from Camillo Limpens-Doernraedt to Bundesdenkmalamt, dated November 11, 1947, SLAM document files]. A letter from the MAK to the Bundesdenkmalamt certified that the museum had no objections to the export of those objects itemized on Limpens-Doernraedt's list [letter from MAK to Bundesdenkmalamt, dated November 10, 1947, SLAM document files]. The statue was sent in the first large shipment porcelain objects, shipped in 1947 [documents from Bundesdenkmalamt, labeled 7460- 47 and 7164- 47, SLAM document files]. The bronze pedestal, inadvertently not packed with the statue, was sent separately in April 1948 [letter from MAK to the Bundesdenkmalamt, dated April 7, 1948, labeled 2782/47, and a document from Bundesdenkmalamt, labeled 2782- 48, SLAM document files].

[7] Frederick A. Stern purchased the sculpture from Rothberger shortly before he offered it to the Museum [letter from Frederick A. Stern to Perry Rathbone, dated October 25, 1951, SLAM document files]. The sculpture and base were sent to the Museum in 1949 for consideration; the purchase was approved in 1951 [correspondence between Perry Rathbone and Frederick A. Stern, December 1948 through late 1951; SLAM document files].

[8] Invoice dated October 24, 1951 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, November 8, 1951.