Meissen trompe-l’œil plate of cherries from the Brühlsche Allerlei service

History

The designer of the service was, for the most part, Johann Friedrich Eberlein (1695-1749), the second Meissen modeller after Johann Joachim Kaendler, in whose shadow he often stood. He had been working on the models since August 1742, and a little later was assisted by Johann Gottlieb Ehder (1716/17-1750). Only rarely, did Kaendler contribute to the service.

The inventory of Brühl’s estate from 1765 gives an idea of the extent and richness of the service’s forms. When Count von Brühl died on 28 October 1763, the porcelain vault of his Dresden palace in Augustusstrasse contained “Eine Partie von dem guten grosen [sic] Tafel Service” which can be identified as the ‘Brühlsche Allerlei’ service¹. At Brühl’s death, the service was no longer complete, but the inventory still listed 1,913 individual pieces in 72 categories for the dinner and dessert table. Originally, it must have consisted of more than 2,000 pieces, similar in scale to the Swan service.

References:
Johanna Lessmann, ‘Das Brühlsche Allerlei’- Ein Service für Heinrich Graf von Brühl’, pp. 106-118, Schwanenservice, Meissener Porzellan für Heinrich Graf von Brühl, (Edition Leipzig 2000)