139. A rare Meissen decagonal bowl, circa 1730 Decorated in Kakiemon style, the exterior with two pairs of horses flanked by flowering bushes, the interior painted with ten panels edged in blue and iron-red around an iron-red decagon enclosing a flower head, the brown-edged rim with a border of iron-red ribbons tied in bows and precious objects, 20cm across; 8.8cm high, crossed swords mark in blue enamel, incisde Japanese Palace inventory number "N=447-/ W" (restored) Provenance The Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden (delivered in 1734) Ten such bowls are listed in a delivery specification from the Dresden warehouse to the Japanese Palace in 1734 (C. Boltz, "Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar 1769", Keramos 153 (1996): 92). The 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace also records: "Zehen Stück detto kleinere SpühlNäpffe, in- und auswendig mit Blumen, Vögeln und Thieren gemahlt, der größte 3½. Zoll hoch, 8. Zoll in Diam: der kleinste 3¼. Zoll hoch, 6¾. Zoll in Diam: No. 447" [ten ditto smaller rinsing bowls, painted inside and outside with flowers, birds and animals, the largest 3½ zoll high, 8 zoll in diam.: the smallest 3¼ zoll high, 6¾ Zoll diam: no. 447] (quoted by C. Boltz, "Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770" (1996): 61). Based on a late 17th century Japanese model, of which two (metal-mounted) examples are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1978.664 A & B.