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Lot Essay
This rare model pre-dates the achievements made in the 1730s by Kirchner, and more significantly by Kändler, in modelling large scale birds and animals for the Japanese Palace in Dresden. It appears to be an early attempt at a life-sized model of a parrot, but the slightly stiff modelling suggests that it was probably not taken from life (Augustus The Strong kept a number of exotic birds in his aviary at Schloss Moritzburg). Neither is it a direct copy of the Oriental porcelain birds in Augustus's collection.
This, and other aspects of these models are discussed by Carl C. Dauterman, 'The Mastery of Meissen, The Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection' Apollo Magazine, August 1973, pp. 92-95, where he illustrates two extremely similar (un-mounted) examples from the Bruce Collection, one of which has a painted inventory number which he relates to the Japanese Palace. The decoration of the present lot is very similar to the Bruce Collection examples (similar colours are used, but in slightly different combinations), and the three were almost certainly decorated by the same hand. Dauterman points out that the odd shape of the rockwork base 'poses the problem of whether some additional object was intended to be accomodated there. Actually the surface is so uneven and so deeply pitted as to discourage the thought'.
The purpose of the extended base is unclear, but as the rockwork bases appear identical in form (and the models are all 28 cm. high), then their uneven character would probably not affect their function if a number of them were used as pedestals for a large jardinière or bowl of somesort.
Another un-mounted example, once in the Ole Olsen Collection, Copenhagen, was sold in these Rooms on 13th March 1989, lot 98. This example was decorated in a very different and loose manner (with no painted markings on its chest plumage, and with large patches of colour on the base). Another single example, similar in decoration to the Olsens example and mounted with a later flower-vase, was once in the Baron Ferdinand von Rothschild Collection and is illustrated by Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere im 18. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1959), fig. 240. A pair of parrots, also more similar to the Olsen example in their decoration and mounted at a later date with flower-vases, are illustrated by Yvonne Hackenbroch, 'Meissen and other Continental Porcelain, Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection' Catalogue (London, 1956), pl. 11.
This, and other aspects of these models are discussed by Carl C. Dauterman, 'The Mastery of Meissen, The Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection' Apollo Magazine, August 1973, pp. 92-95, where he illustrates two extremely similar (un-mounted) examples from the Bruce Collection, one of which has a painted inventory number which he relates to the Japanese Palace. The decoration of the present lot is very similar to the Bruce Collection examples (similar colours are used, but in slightly different combinations), and the three were almost certainly decorated by the same hand. Dauterman points out that the odd shape of the rockwork base 'poses the problem of whether some additional object was intended to be accomodated there. Actually the surface is so uneven and so deeply pitted as to discourage the thought'.
The purpose of the extended base is unclear, but as the rockwork bases appear identical in form (and the models are all 28 cm. high), then their uneven character would probably not affect their function if a number of them were used as pedestals for a large jardinière or bowl of somesort.
Another un-mounted example, once in the Ole Olsen Collection, Copenhagen, was sold in these Rooms on 13th March 1989, lot 98. This example was decorated in a very different and loose manner (with no painted markings on its chest plumage, and with large patches of colour on the base). Another single example, similar in decoration to the Olsens example and mounted with a later flower-vase, was once in the Baron Ferdinand von Rothschild Collection and is illustrated by Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere im 18. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1959), fig. 240. A pair of parrots, also more similar to the Olsen example in their decoration and mounted at a later date with flower-vases, are illustrated by Yvonne Hackenbroch, 'Meissen and other Continental Porcelain, Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection' Catalogue (London, 1956), pl. 11.