Coffee and Tea Service

In 1709, when porcelain was more valuable than precious stones, and no ceramic factory in the Western world knew how to produce it, the Meissen manufactory, located near Dresden, discovered the formula. By the 1720s, Meissen was renowned for its porcelain.

In 1744 Augustus III, king of Poland and elector of Saxony, needed a royal wedding present and commissioned this coffee and tea service from Meissen. Composed of thirty-one pieces (teapot, tea caddy, six teacups, dish, coffee pot, creamer, sugar bowl, six coffee cups, waste bowl, and twelve saucers), the service was made for the wedding of Count Johann Friedrich of Schwarzberg Rudolstadt to Bernhardina Christina Sophia on November 29, 1744. It represents the craze not only for porcelain, but also for coffee and tea, which were then considered exotic beverages. Coffee and tea were first introduced to the West in about 1650; at the time of the count’s wedding, they were still luxury items affordable only by the very wealthy.

Johann Joachim Kaendler, Meissen’s finest artistic director, designed the delicate snowball decoration in 1740. Each snowball blossom is hand-applied. The interiors of the cups, saucers, dish, and bowls are painted in sepia with gallants and ladies in parkland, after works by the French painter Jean-Antoine Watteau. The coffee pot and teapot at first appear too small to accommodate enough drink for six cups each. At that time, however, these beverages were brewed very strong; small amounts were poured into the cups and diluted with hot water.