Lot Essay
Kändler based the doe group on an engraving entitled 'Der gehetzte wehrlose Rehbock' by Johann Elias Ridinger (1698-1767), an example of which is held at the manufactory archives. The models were commissioned by the Paris marchand-mercier Michel Joseph Lair (1732-1758) in 1758. The original watercolour designs for both groups, which Lair sent to the manufactory, are also dated 1758 and are preserved in the factory archives. They are illustrated together with the porcelain models from the Collection of Ritter Kempski von Rakoszyn, by Julia Weber in Keramos 2012/216: Von Moskau bis Lissabon, von Dublin bis Konstantinopel. Der Handel mit Meißener Porzellan im 18. Jahrhundert (1719-1773), pp. 40-41, nos. 54, 55, 56 and 57.