Vase from the Swan Service
- Date
- 1738
- made in
- Meissen, Sachsen state, Germany, Europe
- Classification
- Ceramics, containers
- Collection
- Decorative Arts and Design
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 122
- Dimensions
- 23 x 11 11/16 x 10 7/8 in. (58.4 x 29.7 x 27.6 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 37:1945a,b
NOTES
These vases are extraordinary expressions of the baroque-style taste for robust form, undulating line, and richly modeled surfaces. The sculptural quality of the bouquets of flowers, the swans that form the handles, and the floral garlands draped around the bellies of the vases attest to the mastery of Johann Joachim Kaendler, the gifted court sculptor who designed them. The swans’ sinuous necks and ruffled feathers exhibit a naturalism that Kaendler achieved by sketching from live animals in the royal collections. The theme of swans and the gilded coats of arms identify the vases as pieces from the famed Swan Service, a two thousand-piece dinner service commissioned in 1737 by Count Heinrich von Brühl, the director of the Meissen factory. These two were probably part of a set of four to seven vases of varying sizes and shapes that would have comprised a symmetrical and rhythmic display for a mantelpiece.
Provenance
c.1738 -
Count Heinrich Graf von Brühl and his wife, Countess Franziska von Kolowrat-Krakowska, Pförten, Silesia, and Dresden, Germany, commissioned from Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, and family by inheritance [1]
- still in 1932
Dr. and Mrs. Walther von Pannwitz (Catalina Roth), Berlin, Germany; Hartekamp, The Netherlands; Switzerland; Argentina [2]
- 1945
Private Collection, New York, USA [3]
1945 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Cosmos Art Inc., (Frederick A. Stern) New York, NY [4]
Notes:
This vase is one of a pair; the second vase (37:1945a,b) shares the same provenance.
[1] Dr. Rainer Ruckert, at the Bayerische Nationalmuseum, Munich, Germany, stated that the pieces were produced shortly after the marriage of the couple on November 27, 1737; this conclusion appears to be based in part on the Bruhl and Krakowska family shields present on the vases [letter From Ruckert to Museum curatorial assistant, Mrs. James B. Fisher, dated April 24, 1973, SLAM document files].
[2] The von Pannwitzes were building their collection from at least 1905, the year in which a book devoted to their collection was published, and some objects were sold at auction in Munich, Germany [Ernst von Bassermann-Jordon, "Die Sammlung von Pannwitz, München." München: Verland Hugo Helbing, 1905; auction at Hugo Helbing, München, October 24-25, 1905]. Their collection continued to grow during their years in Berlin, from 1908 to 1918 [letter from Ulrich Pietsch, Director, Porzellansammlung, Dresden, Germany to Museum assistant curator David Conradsen, dated October 29, 1996, SLAM document files]. Specific provenance information for the vases (36, 37:1945a,b) is provided by Otto von Falke in an article on Meissen porcelain, in which he cites Mrs. von Pannwitz as the owner of two vases discussed and illustrated. The vases in the photograph bear identical firing flaws to those present on the SLAM examples [Otto von Falke, "Meissen Barokvases," in "Pantheon" vol. 2 (February 1932); ill. p. 56, fig. 1]. The couple moved to The Netherlands in 1918. Dr. Pannwitz died in 1920; Mrs. von Pannwitz continued to collect. In 1940 Mrs. Pannwitz received an exit visa for Switzerland, in part as a result of selling five paintings to Hermann Göring ["Origins Unknown," [Accessed January 21, 2004]; copy in SLAM document files]. It is believed that she resided in Ascona, Switzerland, for a period during the Second World War [Nancy H. Yeide, et al. "The AAM Guide to Provenance Research." Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 2001. p. 287]. By 1943 she had returned to her family home in Argentina [Ton Biesemaat: "Prins Bernhard en geheim agent Brijnen van Houten," ("Planet Internet," [Accessed 2/6/2004]) ; copy in SLAM document files].
[3] In early 1945 Frederick A. Stern recommended several German porcelain objects to the Museum, including the pair of vases (36, 37:1945a,b); in a letter describing the three objects, including this pair of vases, he stated that they were all "held in a New York collection" [letter from Frederick A. Stern to Museum director, Charles Nagel, dated February 19, 1945, SLAM document files]. It is possible that he was referring to the New York dealers, Rosenberg & Stiebel, who handled the von Pannwitz collection for decades, beginning in the 1940s; the vases may have been with them on consignment [Gerald Stiebel, in telephone interview with Museum research assistant, Pam Stewart, March 22, 2004; complete notes in SLAM document files].
[4] Cosmos Art, Inc. invoice, dated May 14, 1945 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, May 3, 1945.
Count Heinrich Graf von Brühl and his wife, Countess Franziska von Kolowrat-Krakowska, Pförten, Silesia, and Dresden, Germany, commissioned from Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, and family by inheritance [1]
- still in 1932
Dr. and Mrs. Walther von Pannwitz (Catalina Roth), Berlin, Germany; Hartekamp, The Netherlands; Switzerland; Argentina [2]
- 1945
Private Collection, New York, USA [3]
1945 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Cosmos Art Inc., (Frederick A. Stern) New York, NY [4]
Notes:
This vase is one of a pair; the second vase (37:1945a,b) shares the same provenance.
[1] Dr. Rainer Ruckert, at the Bayerische Nationalmuseum, Munich, Germany, stated that the pieces were produced shortly after the marriage of the couple on November 27, 1737; this conclusion appears to be based in part on the Bruhl and Krakowska family shields present on the vases [letter From Ruckert to Museum curatorial assistant, Mrs. James B. Fisher, dated April 24, 1973, SLAM document files].
[2] The von Pannwitzes were building their collection from at least 1905, the year in which a book devoted to their collection was published, and some objects were sold at auction in Munich, Germany [Ernst von Bassermann-Jordon, "Die Sammlung von Pannwitz, München." München: Verland Hugo Helbing, 1905; auction at Hugo Helbing, München, October 24-25, 1905]. Their collection continued to grow during their years in Berlin, from 1908 to 1918 [letter from Ulrich Pietsch, Director, Porzellansammlung, Dresden, Germany to Museum assistant curator David Conradsen, dated October 29, 1996, SLAM document files]. Specific provenance information for the vases (36, 37:1945a,b) is provided by Otto von Falke in an article on Meissen porcelain, in which he cites Mrs. von Pannwitz as the owner of two vases discussed and illustrated. The vases in the photograph bear identical firing flaws to those present on the SLAM examples [Otto von Falke, "Meissen Barokvases," in "Pantheon" vol. 2 (February 1932); ill. p. 56, fig. 1]. The couple moved to The Netherlands in 1918. Dr. Pannwitz died in 1920; Mrs. von Pannwitz continued to collect. In 1940 Mrs. Pannwitz received an exit visa for Switzerland, in part as a result of selling five paintings to Hermann Göring ["Origins Unknown," [Accessed January 21, 2004]
[3] In early 1945 Frederick A. Stern recommended several German porcelain objects to the Museum, including the pair of vases (36, 37:1945a,b); in a letter describing the three objects, including this pair of vases, he stated that they were all "held in a New York collection" [letter from Frederick A. Stern to Museum director, Charles Nagel, dated February 19, 1945, SLAM document files]. It is possible that he was referring to the New York dealers, Rosenberg & Stiebel, who handled the von Pannwitz collection for decades, beginning in the 1940s; the vases may have been with them on consignment [Gerald Stiebel, in telephone interview with Museum research assistant, Pam Stewart, March 22, 2004; complete notes in SLAM document files].
[4] Cosmos Art, Inc. invoice, dated May 14, 1945 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, May 3, 1945.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.