serving plate from the Swan Service, Johann Joachim Kändler; Johann Friedrich Eberlein

Archive Label 2003:
The Swan Service is one of the largest dinner services ever made, numbering about 2,000 pieces in forty different shapes. It takes its name from the scene rendered in relief in the bowl of the serving plate, which shows swans among reeds and rushes. The coat of arms at the top of this plate signifies that it was commissioned by Count Brühl, director of the Meissen factory, for his marriage in 1737. The word “Brühl” in German means “marshy place,” and the scene on the plate is a pun on the Count’s family name.

Archive Label 2001:
The Swan Service is the most important example of Meissen porcelain. It was commissioned by Count Brühl, director of the Meissen factory, for his marriage in 1737, which is signified by the coat of arms at the top of this plate. The set consisted of approximately 2200 pieces in about 40 different shapes. Its name was derived from the image in relief in the serving plate's bowl, which shows swans among reeds and rushes. This motif is a visual pun on the Count's family name: the word "Brühl" in German means "marshy place."

Archive Label 1989:
The Swan Service of table ware is the most important example of Meissen porcelain. It was commissioned by Count Brühl, director of the Meissen factory, for his marriage in 1737 (signified by the coat of arms at the top), and contained around 2200 pieces in forty different shapes. The service takes its name from the scene rendered in relief in the bowl of the serving plate, swans among reeds and rushes, which itself derives from a plate in the Neuvollständiges Reiß-Buch by Johann Leonhard Buggell (Nuremberg, 1700). Indeed, the work “Brühl” in German means “marshy place” and the scene on the plate is a pun on the Count’s family name.