Caddinet
Attributed to Gottlieb Menzel
Not on view
The caddinet was reserved for the sovereign and his immediate family. The instructions for setting the table for a banquet at Dresden Palace on September 3, 1719, read: “On the table is [to be placed] in front . . . of the king and the . . . queen the so-called caddinet, . . . in which are salt, pepper, and other [spices] in diverse compartments.” The tray held the private royal cutlery and a specially folded napkin that covered bread rolls; hence the object’s name BrodtTeller (bread tray) in contemporary inventories. Augustus the Strong (1670–1733) must have seen this rare expression of royal etiquette in use at the court in Versailles, where he visited in 1687. The pagoda-shaped lids recall the roof line of the king’s summer palace, Pillnitz, near Dresden, introducing a touch of the exotic chinoiserie so fashionable at the time. This caddinet was part of a set of six.
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