A PAIR OF MEISSEN PLATES FROM THE SERVICE MADE FOR GRAF FINCK VON FINCKENSTEIN

These plates are from a service ordered by Frederick The Great of Prussia for Graf Karl Wilhelm von Finckenstein (1714-1800). Karl Wilhelm was the Prussian Ambassador to the Courts at Stockholm, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg, and later went on to become first Cabinet Minister.

At least half of the service was sold at Sotheby's, London, 22 February 1988, lot 382. For a tureen from this service in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, see Karl Berling, Meissner Porzellan, Leipzig, 1900, p. 113, fig. 165. A plate from the service is illustrated by D. Hoffmeister, Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister, Hamburg, 1999, Vol. I, no. 219.