Posted 3 years ago
epicvintag…
(13 items)
I picked this set up at a thrift store because I liked the shapes--and it is in perfect condition--but I can't find the pattern anywhere. I know the form is "1382" designed by Herman Gretsch in the 1930s. Rosenthal purchased the brand around 2016. If you look closely the design says "Serviam" under the scroll pattern. Translated to I Will Serve, which is the motto of the Ursulines, I wonder if this is a special pattern developed for use in their monastaries and schools? But I can't find that Arzberg Bavaria ever did this sort of work. Any help with identification would be wonderful--or any ideas where to look next.
Thanks,
Melinda
Hi, epicvintagetreasures. :-)
It looks like you've got your work cut out for you, because not only is Arzberg Porcelain no longer an independent company, its buyer Rosenthal has itself been owned by Sambonet Paderno Industrie (Arcturus Group) since 2009.
Rosenthal actually has a museum (the Porzellanikon), so you might want to contact them. If they can't help you, perhaps they can point you in the right direction:
https://www.porzellanikon.org/en/museum/contacts/
It looks like it may be a black that people could buy and paint themselves. The painting looks very amateur.
I FOUND IT! It is an ecclesiastical Coat of Arms! See the hat (Galero) on top? That is an Archbishop's hat in the Catholic Church. Many used the word "Serviam". This looks to be a Bishop's, since the cross on top is a single cross.
WIKI: >"In the Catholic Church, display of a cross behind the shield is restricted to bishops as a mark of their dignity.[36] The cross of an ordinary bishop has a single horizontal bar or traverse, also known as a Latin cross. A patriarch uses the patriarchal cross with two traverses, also called the cross of Lorraine. The papal cross has three traverses, but this is never displayed behind the papal arms."<
Google: ecclesiastical coat of arms - you will find many examples. It's not just Catholics that had them. Now, it's up to you to figure out what family! Everything on it is symbolic of something - as all heraldic symbols are!
Here's the wiki on them (there are entire books of them!):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical_heraldry
EDIT! It looks like it may be a BLANK people buy & paint themselves!
Rosenthal china WAS very popular for China Painting.
Celiene, D'oh! When will I learn to consider porcelain blanks as a very real possibility?
You can still get them!
Thank you for all the information--I am now more lost than before!!! Just not sure where to look next. It is a mystery!
epicvintagetreasures, I suspect that Celiene has pointed you in the right direction.
That is to say, your Arzberg Porcelain tea/coffee service pieces were purchased by somebody as un-decorated blanks, and then hand-decorated with an ecclesiastical coat of arms, probably one belonging to a bishop.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out which bishop. };-)
You could try searching Google Images using criteria such as "bishop coat of arms serviam."
This one is close, but no cigar:
https://archives.diosav.org/sites/all/files/images/bishop/Frey-coatofarms.jpg
https://archives.diosav.org/bishop-frey
Thank you all! I love mysteries--this one is fun, but not yet solved. If I ever do figure it out I'll let everyone know!
I'm probably further muddying the waters, but adding other search criteria, such as "crosier" could be helpful (because I can definitely see a crozier on the right-hand side of the top of the shield).
Of course, adding "crozier" to one's search criteria produces this not pertinent, but fairly amusing bishop's coat of arms for the Diocese of Albany:
https://evangelist.org/Content/Features/People-of-faith/Article/Bishop-s-complex-coat-of-arms/16/69/24516
What I can't figure out is that image on the right-hand side of the shield itself in yours.
It seems possible that it's the coat of arms of some past Bishop of Savannah, because that image on the left-hand side of the shield would be right for Savannah. The current one has it as well:
https://diosav.org/our-bishops/bishop-parkes/coat-of-arms
No joy, unless my eyes missed it. Keeping in mind that it couldn't be older than the porcelain design, I went through the bishops of Savannah starting in the 1930s, but didn't see a twin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Savannah