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Lot Essay
This Meissen putto with lantern, probably an allegory of night, is one of a large series of winged putti made between 1748 and 1752. The sales ledgers kept by Lazare Duvaux, an important Parisian marchand-mercier, between 1748 and 1758, are an important source of information for the production dates of Meissen figures, and who they were sold to. Duvaux bought unmounted porcelain figures which he then sold on to his clientele after providing ormolu mounts for them.
In December 1752 Duvaux sold a group of twenty-eight of these putti to Mme de Pompadour. The figure with the lantern is rare, only two other examples are known. The Prinz Georg Palais in Darmstadt has one and the other was in the L. Lewin collection in Leipzig.
In December 1752 Duvaux sold a group of twenty-eight of these putti to Mme de Pompadour. The figure with the lantern is rare, only two other examples are known. The Prinz Georg Palais in Darmstadt has one and the other was in the L. Lewin collection in Leipzig.