CIRCA 1750, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARKS, MODELLED BY JOHANN JOACHIM KÄNDLER AND PETER REINEKE

Made in several sizes, the models for the present swans were a collaborative effort between J. J. Kändler and Peter Reineke who are recorded as working on them in November 1747. However, according to Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld in his catalogue for the Dresden collection of Gustav vomn Klemperer, they were not finalized until the summer of the following year. A popular model, these swans are found in a variety of sizes and are often set into ormolu-mounts popular during the reigns of both Louis XV and Louis XVI. The mounts often take the robust form of rococo foliate swirls forming candelabra arms or that of a calmer more neo-classic design featuring the birds nesting amidst bullrushes.

For a pair mounted as rocaille candelabra, the arms applied with tôle flowers, see Abraham L. den Blaauwen, Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum, pp. 416-417, no, 305.