CIRCA 1745

Details

A Meissen figure of a Freemason
Circa 1745
Modelled by J.J. Kändler, wearing a gilt-edged black tricorn hat, an elaborate brown chequered lozenge-pattern long-coat over a white shirt and puce waistcoat gilt with scrolling foliage, a blue-edged yellow apron, white stockings and black shoes, holding a scroll and a pair of silvered dividers, standing before a tree-stump issuing from rockwork applied with flowers and foliage, a pug-dog defecating on a Masonic apron inscribed La vray Medicine by his side at his feet, on an octagonal spreading gilt-edged pedestal with marbled panels and gilt strapwork to the canted corners (both arms, right hand and pug-dog probably restuck, restoration to dividers and blade of trowel, slight restoration to apron on pedestal and some of applied leaves)
12 in. (30.4 cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Sale room notice

There is an additional note as to the provenance of this figure:

Originally in the Herman Emden Collection, it was sold at Rudolph Lepke's, Berlin, 3-7 November 1908, lot 366. It was subsequently in the Gustav von Gerhardt Collection, sold by Lepke's 7-9 November, 1911, lot 75.

Lot Essay

This figure is generally considered to be the companion of the figure of the Lady of the Mopsorden, but oddly, the pedestals of the figures frequently do not match in decoration. A similar figure was sold was sold in these Rooms on 13th December 2001, lot 645, and both figures are rare as they have, extraordinarily, a defecating pug-dog by their side instead of the more usual pedestal. An example of the companion figure, the Lady of the Mopsorden, was sold in the same sale, lot 644. The Freemason was first modelled in 1743, as Kändler's taxa records: 1. Frey Maurer mit Schurzfell und anderer Zubehör auf einem postament wohl angekleidet stehend, in der einen Hand einem Grund Riss habend, neben welchen ein postament, darauff Winckel-Haacken, Transporteur Circul, Bley Waage und dergl. liegen. ...6 Thlr.-

See also Dr. Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century (1972), Vol. I, pp. 204-205 for a similar model of a Freemason standing beside a pillar, previously in the Emma Budge Collection and now in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection, Basel. See also the example sold in these Rooms on 2nd October 1979, lot 171; the example (with a pug-dog at his feet) on 28th March 1977, lot 137. Another example, with marbled panels and a pug-dog at his feet, from the Collection of the late the Hon. Mrs. Nellie Ionides was sold by Sotheby's on 7th July 1964, lot 124.

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