Lot Essay
See the example from the Kramarsky Collection sold by Christie's New York on 30 October 1993, lot 25.
Like the models of bantam cocks, also of Japanese inspiration, and dating from the late 1720's or early 1730's, this model is made of a particularly hard, white body and decorated in brilliant enamel colours. The presence of the caduceus mark on most pieces of this type is perhaps indicative of the composition of the porcelain used, or the fact that they were of Japanese inspiration.
Rainer Rückert, op. cit. (1966), no. 1100, illustrates a similar peacock without its mount, but states that there are altogether five in the Munich Residenz, two mounted in a clock and three with identical mounts to the present lot. All five examples have caduceus marks. It is tempting therefore to suppose that, even if the present lot never was at the Munich Residenz, it was conceived at the same time as the pieces there. An unmounted example of this model was in the Mühsam Collection, sale Glückselig, Vienna, April 1925, lot 43.
Like the models of bantam cocks, also of Japanese inspiration, and dating from the late 1720's or early 1730's, this model is made of a particularly hard, white body and decorated in brilliant enamel colours. The presence of the caduceus mark on most pieces of this type is perhaps indicative of the composition of the porcelain used, or the fact that they were of Japanese inspiration.
Rainer Rückert, op. cit. (1966), no. 1100, illustrates a similar peacock without its mount, but states that there are altogether five in the Munich Residenz, two mounted in a clock and three with identical mounts to the present lot. All five examples have caduceus marks. It is tempting therefore to suppose that, even if the present lot never was at the Munich Residenz, it was conceived at the same time as the pieces there. An unmounted example of this model was in the Mühsam Collection, sale Glückselig, Vienna, April 1925, lot 43.