A Nymphenburg porcelain large dish from the 'Hofservice', circa 1760-65

Two dishes of the second largest size (41.2cm and 41.8cm diameter), were in the historic collection of Catalina von Pannwitz, 'De Hartekamp', Heemstede, The Netherlands, and were recently sold at Bonhams, London, 7 December 2022, lot 96.

The Nymphenburg porcelain Hofservice.

The distinguished ‘Hofservice’, produced by the Nymphenburg porcelain manufactory, ranks among the most important expressions of eighteenth century Bavarian court porcelain. The porcelain scholar Friedrich Hofmann first suggested that the service was made for the court of Elector Maximilian III Joseph (1727–1777), a view supported by the related garniture of five vases decorated in closely comparable style and preserved in the Munich Residenzmuseum.

The service exemplifies the manufactory’s early mastery of form and decoration, combining elegantly modelled shapes with exceptionally finely painted naturalistic flowers and foliage and often incorporating moths and other insects against the white ground. Conceived not merely for practical use but as a statement of dynastic prestige and cultivated taste, it reflects the refinement of courtly life in Bavaria under the electors. The decoration has been attributed to Joseph Zächenberger (1732-1802), whose hand is associated with some of the most sophisticated painted ornament of the period.

Zächenberger worked at Nymphenburg from circa 1760–70, where he was trained by his father Anton and J. Ruffini. After leaving the factory, he spent seven years producing sumptuous painted silk panels for a room in the city palace of Joseph Ferdinand Reichsgraf von Rheinstein-Tattenbach (1723–1802), one of Bavaria’s wealthiest figures and Lord Chamberlain to the Munich court; these works are now preserved in the Bavarian National Museum (inv. no. 51/103.1-147).