A Meissen Swan Service covered bowl – €44,000 (£38,940) at the Berlin auctioneer Leo Spik.
Among the many hundreds of services manufactured in Meissen, the Schwanenservice (Swan Service) is one of the most exclusive – a fact not lost on today’s collectors of 18th century German porcelain.
It was made between 1737-42 for the First Minister of Saxony, Count Heinrich von Brühl, and takes its name from the relief of two swans that adorns each piece.