Lot Essay
Johann Heinrich Köhler was baptized in Langensalza in 1669 and became a citizen of Dresden in 1707. A jeweller, goldsmith and ivory carver, he was ordered in 1723 to supervise the restoration of 155 pieces from Augustus the Strong's treasury, the Green Vaults. By 1725, he became Hoff-Jubelier (Court Jeweller) to Augustus the Strong Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Köhler was commissioned to create the insignia for the coronation of Augustus the Strong's son and follower, King Augustus III as King of Poland in 1733. His importance is furthermore attested by the fact that he was in charge of the transport of the Amber Cabinet given by King Frederick William I of Prussia to Augustus the Strong in 1728. Köhler died in Dresden in 1736.
Today, Köhler is best known for his ivory figures with elaborate jewelled and enamelled bases, depicting pedlars, beggars or peasants. His oeuvre is mainly kept in the Green Vaults, Dresden, and among his masterworks is The Spanish Dancer (illustrated in Walter Holzhausen and Edmund Kesting, Prachtgefäße · Geschmeide · Kabinettstcke, Tbingen, 1966, p. 125) which displays a harmonious composition of baroque pearls with enamel similar to the dog in the present group. Jean Louis Sponsel (Das grne Gewölbe zu Dresden, Leipzig, 1925 ff., III, p. 236, nos. 4-6, pl. 35) illustrates three stylistically very close jewelled groups depicting craftsmen, from the Green Vaults, including a variant of the Knife-grinder. The latter model must have been particularly successful as a third variant exists, formerly in the collection of Electress Palatine Anna-Maria-Luisa of Medici, now in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence (see exhibition catalogue Gli Ultimi Medici, Florence, 1974, no. 262d).
Further updated information and illustrations of Köhler's works can be found in Dirk Syndram, Prunkstcke des Grnen Gewölbes zu Dresden, Munich and Berlin, 1994, pp. 134-139.
Today, Köhler is best known for his ivory figures with elaborate jewelled and enamelled bases, depicting pedlars, beggars or peasants. His oeuvre is mainly kept in the Green Vaults, Dresden, and among his masterworks is The Spanish Dancer (illustrated in Walter Holzhausen and Edmund Kesting, Prachtgefäße · Geschmeide · Kabinettstcke, Tbingen, 1966, p. 125) which displays a harmonious composition of baroque pearls with enamel similar to the dog in the present group. Jean Louis Sponsel (Das grne Gewölbe zu Dresden, Leipzig, 1925 ff., III, p. 236, nos. 4-6, pl. 35) illustrates three stylistically very close jewelled groups depicting craftsmen, from the Green Vaults, including a variant of the Knife-grinder. The latter model must have been particularly successful as a third variant exists, formerly in the collection of Electress Palatine Anna-Maria-Luisa of Medici, now in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence (see exhibition catalogue Gli Ultimi Medici, Florence, 1974, no. 262d).
Further updated information and illustrations of Köhler's works can be found in Dirk Syndram, Prunkstcke des Grnen Gewölbes zu Dresden, Munich and Berlin, 1994, pp. 134-139.