A GILT-METAL-MOUNTED BÖTTGER POLISHED RED STONEWARE TANKARD AND COVER

Böttger’s red stoneware is a form of 'true' porcelain, similar to that made in the Far East, and although he also discovered hard-paste white porcelain, it was red stoneware which reached production stage first. The factory at Meissen was set up in January 1710 and stoneware pieces were available for purchase only a few months later at the Leipzig Easter Fair. White porcelain was exhibited at the same fair but was not developed for production until a few years later, being offered for sale in Easter 1713.

See Rainer Ruckert, Meissener Porzellan, Munich, 1966, no. 10 for a similar tankard to the present lot.