Lot Essay
On March 1, 1751, the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux sold to Mgr. le Comte d'Egmont Un pot pourri de Saxe sur des oiseaux, 168L. (Livre Journal, no. 740) which must have been of a similar design to the above. A comparable example was in the Wrightsman Collection (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Metropolitan Museum, 1966, vol. II, no. 268)
A similar pair of guinea fowl is illustrated in R. Rückert Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, p.198, nos. 1129 and 1130, colour pl. xxxi and he notes that the Meissen facory Jahrbuch for September 1741 records under Kändler's name: 'Eine Perl Henne in Thon poussirt von mittelmässiger Grösse, welche ebenfalls Compagnon gegen eine andere Perlhenne abgeben soll, damitsolche Stücke allzeit gegeneinder sehen' (A medium-sized guinea hen modelled in clay, intended to have a companion, in order to be seen as a pair). Other guinea fowl of this model (Numida meleagris, native to West Africa), are illustrated by Carl Abliker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere, (1935 Edition) pl xxxiii, no. 136, and (1959 Berlin edition) no. 126; and in the Catalogues of the collections of Frau Emma Budge, sold at Paul Graupe in Berlin, 27-29 September 1937, lot 774, pl.122; C.H. Fischer, sold at H. Lempertz' Söhne in Cologne on 22 October 1906, lot 62, pl.5; and Erich von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, sold by Hermann Ball and Paul Graupe in Berlin on 25 March 1931, lot 450, pl. 78
A similar pair of guinea fowl is illustrated in R. Rückert Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, p.198, nos. 1129 and 1130, colour pl. xxxi and he notes that the Meissen facory Jahrbuch for September 1741 records under Kändler's name: 'Eine Perl Henne in Thon poussirt von mittelmässiger Grösse, welche ebenfalls Compagnon gegen eine andere Perlhenne abgeben soll, damitsolche Stücke allzeit gegeneinder sehen' (A medium-sized guinea hen modelled in clay, intended to have a companion, in order to be seen as a pair). Other guinea fowl of this model (Numida meleagris, native to West Africa), are illustrated by Carl Abliker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere, (1935 Edition) pl xxxiii, no. 136, and (1959 Berlin edition) no. 126; and in the Catalogues of the collections of Frau Emma Budge, sold at Paul Graupe in Berlin, 27-29 September 1937, lot 774, pl.122; C.H. Fischer, sold at H. Lempertz' Söhne in Cologne on 22 October 1906, lot 62, pl.5; and Erich von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, sold by Hermann Ball and Paul Graupe in Berlin on 25 March 1931, lot 450, pl. 78