CIRCA 1748-1750, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK TO BACK OF BASE, TWICE IMPRESSED 75, POSSIBLY MODELED BY J.J. KÄNDLER

The author of this model of swan is uncertain, although it has been attributed to Kändler. As well as modeling a very large swan for the king’s Japanese Palace in Dresden in 1735, Eberlein created a smaller model of a swan, very similar in form to the present lot, but which is almost 32 cm. high, larger than the present model⁽¹⁾. The present model is similar to the ormolu-mounted Meissen swans in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam⁽²⁾, which are attributed to Kändler⁽³⁾. Kändler’s work reports record that he worked on models of swans (one with cygnets) in collaboration with Reinicke in November 1747, but these models appear to be much smaller: Zwey Modelle zu kleinen Schwanen mit Jungen ausgestellet und in gehörige positur gesetzet⁽⁴⁾. He noted that the models were ‘small’, but he did not specify a size. Reinicke’s Arbeitsberichte [work report] records two entries relating to swans in the same month, the first notes: Ein Schwahn in Thon rein boussirt [a swan modeled in clay], and the second notes: Einen Schwahn mit 2. Jungen zu vorhergehenden in Thon rein bouhsirt [a swan with two cygnets modeled in clay]⁽⁵⁾.

1. Sarah-Katharina Andres-Acevedo, ibid., 2023, Vol. 2, p. 43, no. 83.
2. Abraham L. den Blaauwen, Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2000, pp. 416-417.
3. Also see Ulrich Pietsch, Meissner Porzellanplastik, Catalogue of the Porzellansammlung, Dresden, Munich, 2006, p. 200, Kat. Nr. 312-313, for a pair of very similar models (of 31 cm. and 32 cm. high) which Pietsch attributes to Kändler.
4. Cited by Ulrich Pietsch, Die Arbeitsberichte des Meissener Porzellanmodelleurs, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Leipzig, 2002, p. 121.
5. Cited by Sarah-Katharina Andres-Acevedo, Die Autonomen Figürlichen Plastiken Johann Joachim Kaendlers und seiner Werkstatt, Stuttgart, 2023, Vol. 1, p. 307.