Tea drinker

The “Tea Drinker” had been owned by German-American Jewish collector Emma Budge. After her death, her art holdings were auctioned off and the “Tea Drinker” came to Mainz in 1938 via an extensive exchange deal with the Landesmuseum Bonn.

In 2013, the figure was restituted to the heirs along with four other porcelain pieces from the Budge Collection. One year later, the Association of Friends of the Landesmuseum Mainz succeeded in legally acquiring the figure through a 2014 auction by the Bonhams house in London.

Especially in combination with the extensive collection of contemporary teapots, cups and other tableware, the “Tea Drinker” can convey much of what characterised the Rococo world.