A MEISSEN CRINOLINE GROUP OF 'LA TASSE DE CHOCOLAT'

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A COLLECTION FROM AN HOTEL PARTICULIER ON THE AVENUE MONTAIGNEThe following twenty-two lots (lots 44-65) were acquired between circa 1890 and circa 1930 by an important French industrial family. The porcelain principally decorated their hôtel particulier on the Avenue Montaigne in central Paris, as depicted in the two 1920s watercolours below. The main collector, a successful industrialist, had a particular taste for magnificent 18th century Meissen and other German manufactories and later he and his son carefully expanded the breadth of the collection to incorporate French porcelain, and in particular, 18th century Sèvres. The family actively lived with the porcelain, with multiple items tastefully ornamenting their well-attended dinner tables, others delicately living behind glass vitrines. The hôtel particulier was in those days a prominent fixture of the Parisian social scene and the pieces accompanied the family in most gatherings. During the Second World War, the collection was confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg following the occupation of France in May 1940, and it was subsequently restituted in 1946. In 1962 the collection was carefully wrapped up and put in strong wooden crates which were then left unopened for over 50 years. In October 2014 the same dusty crates were finally opened up and their beautiful contents revealed. The same family now three generations later is offering this extraordinary collection for sale. This is the second and final portion of the collection to be offered in these Rooms. The last portion will be offered at Christie’s, South Kensington, in Spring 2016.

A MEISSEN CRINOLINE GROUP OF 'LA TASSE DE CHOCOLAT'

CIRCA 1740

Details

A MEISSEN CRINOLINE GROUP OF 'LA TASSE DE CHOCOLAT'
CIRCA 1740
Modelled by J.J. Kändler, the lady seated with a pug-dog on her lap on a chair with a high pierced back, a blackamoor holding a tazza with a chocolate-cup beside her and a tripod table on her left with a chocolate-pot, chocolate-cup and saucer, sugar-bowl and snuff-box, on a shaped mound base applied with flowers and foliage (areas of restoration, blackamoor's head restuck, turban feathers lacking, minor chipping)
5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) high

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Victoria Drummond

vdrummond@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2699

Lot Essay

This group is recorded in Kändler’s Taxa of April-June 1737 and exists with a number of variations to the figural composition. The group was inspired by an engraving by Laurent Cars after Boucher depicting a scene from Molière’s comedy ‘Le Sicilien ou l’Amour peintre’. A similar group with a table and chocolate-service is illustrated by Dr. Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century, Vol. I, 1972, pp. 194-195 and another is illustrated by Stefan Bursche, Meissen, Steinzeug und Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Berlin, 1980, p. 297, cat no. 306. A variant of this model with a kneeling cavalier, from the same collection as the present lot, was sold in these Rooms on 2 June 2015, lot 28 and another group with the table on 21 November 2005, lot 91.

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