A Meissen dessert plate from the 'Japanisches Tafelservice' for Frederick the Great of Prussia, circa 1763Painted in the centre with a vignette depicting a leopard within a blue feathered border around the well, the pierced and spirally-moulded rim with a yellow-ground trellis border edged with puce scrollwork, gilt-edged rim, 24.3cm diam., crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, impressed numeral 56 (tiny chip to footrim)注脚Provenance:Augustus Tulk (1810-1873);Sold by order of the Govenors of the Sir William Perkins Educational Foundation, Christie's, London, 2nd October 1978, lot 108;A Highly Important Private Collection of Meissen and Continental Porcelain, Christie's London, 11 December 2007, lot 106In the final months of the Seven Years War, before the Peace of Hubertusburg on 15th February 1763, Frederick the Great ordered the last and best-documented of his six large table services from the Meissen manufactory for the 'Chinesisches Haus' in the park of Sanssouci. For a detailed discussion of Frederick the Great's Meissen porcelain orders and requisitions, see Samuel Wittwer, Friedrich der Große und das Meißener Porzellan, in Keramos 208 (2010), p. 17-81. The Prussian king gave very detailed instructions for the design of the service, in written instructions to Johann Joachim Kaendler on 11th November 1762, and subsequently in person, with the aid of drawings by his own hand. Kaendler left a detailed record of the king's instructions to him, from which we know, in addition to the title of the service, that the shape was based upon a French silver plate, that it should appear both 'etwas antique' (somewhat antique) as well as 'muschlicht (shell-like), that it should have a yellow 'mosaique' border, and that it should be painted with 'Indianische Thiere und Vögel' ('Indian' or exotic animals and birds) [quoted by Wittwer 2010, pp. 64-65].Samuel Wittwer has demonstrated how Frederick's unusual design was in keeping with the spirit of the Chinese House in Potsdam for which it was intended: making light of the European fashion for Chinoiserie (Wittwer 2009, pp. 39-43). Of all the services that Frederick commissioned or acquired at Meissen, the 'Japanese Service' is perhaps the one that reflects the Prussian king's sophisticated taste most closely. It also serves as a reminder of the way European chinoiserie taste evolved over the course of the 18th century. In addition to the pieces mentioned in the literature (see above), three plates and a dessert plate were in the von Dallwitz Collection, Berlin (destroyed in 1945). A plate was sold at Christie's London, 10 July 2007, lot 128; another was sold in these Rooms from the Hoffmeister Collection, 25 November 2009, lot 102. Two further fragmentary plates from the von Klemperer Collection were sold in these rooms, 8 December 2010, lot 70. A dessert plate was sold at Christie's London, 11 December 2007, lot 107, and four further dessert plates were sold at Sotheby's London, 4 May 2017, lots 163-166.