Lot Essay
In 1727, Augustus the Strong commissioned a series of life-size animals in porcelain for his Japanese Palace in Dresden. Johann Gottlob Kirchner, Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke and Kändler each worked on the project, which was finally abandoned a few years after the emperor's death in 1733. The present model, for which no pair in this large size was ever designed, is recorded in the sculptor's Taxa for March 1735.
Several examples with period decoration are known including two still at Dresden, an example in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and two previously in the collection of John T. Dorrance, Jr. Cf. Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere, 1935 edition, nos. 66 & 67, 1959 edition, no. 75; Jean Louis Sponsel, Kabinettstücke Meissner Porzellan-Manufactur von Johann Joachim Kaendler, p. 105; Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Porzellan, p. 115, pl. 65 and Sotheby's New York, The Collection of John T. Dorrance, Jr., October 20 & 21, 1989, lot 136
Several examples with period decoration are known including two still at Dresden, an example in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and two previously in the collection of John T. Dorrance, Jr. Cf. Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere, 1935 edition, nos. 66 & 67, 1959 edition, no. 75; Jean Louis Sponsel, Kabinettstücke Meissner Porzellan-Manufactur von Johann Joachim Kaendler, p. 105; Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Porzellan, p. 115, pl. 65 and Sotheby's New York, The Collection of John T. Dorrance, Jr., October 20 & 21, 1989, lot 136