72. A very rare Meissen Hausmaler teacup and saucer, circa 1740-1742 Each moulded with three prunus sprigs, decorated in the workshop of F. Mayer, Pressnitz, with mining scenes, the saucer depicting "Der Ober Hütten Verwalter", titled below, the teacup with two vignettes to the side showing individuals, and a landscape vignette inside showing a mine entrance by a waterfall, the rims with gilt scrollwork borders incorporating trellis panels, the handle embellished in gilding, the saucer: 13cm diam.; the teacup: 4.8cm high, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, impressed "2" to teacup (narrow band of wear to gilt border inside rim of teacup) (2) From a service decorated in 1742 in the Bohemian workshop of F. Mayer, Pressnitz (d. 1751) - the earliest known dated example - and his better-known son, Franz Ferdinand Mayer (b. 1727), of which the teapot, sugar bowl, waste bowl and four teacups and saucers are in the Dr. Ernst Schneider collection in Schloß Jägerhof in Düsseldorf (first published by R. Just, "Neue Forschungen über die Pressnitzer Porzellan-Hausmalerie", Mitteilungsblatt der Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz 46 (1959): 27-33; see also R. Slotta/G. Lehmann/U. Pietsch, Ein fein bergmannig Porcelain, 1999, cat. nos. 35-45). Another teacup and saucer from the service is in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Cologne (B. Beaucamp-Markowsky, Europäisches Porzellan, 1980, cat. 87). The teapot is dated and inscribed "J. A:F. M./1742". The scenes on the service are based on Christoph Weigel, Habit und Beschreibung derer sämtlichen Berg-Wercks- und Schmeltz-Hütten-Beamten und Bedienten nach ihrem gewöhnlichen Rang und Ordnung im behörigen Hütten-Habit, Nuremberg, 1721.