A PAIR OF MEISSEN FIGURES OF PIED WAGTAILS, CIRCA 1740
Auction Closed
November 20, 10:09 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A PAIR OF MEISSEN FIGURES OF PIED WAGTAILS
CIRCA 1740
modelled by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner and Johann Gottlieb Ehder, each black and white bird perched on a slender stump applied with small green leaves
height of tallest 9 1/2 in.
24.2 cm
The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's New York, 16-18 November, 1999, lot 465
Kirchner's work reports list in February 1733: "Eine Bachsteltze auff Einen Baum stizend Lebens größe", [A wagtail seated on a tree life-sized] and according to Samuel Witter, Die Galerie der Mießener Tiere, pp. 316-7, six figures of this model had been delivered to the Japanese Palace by 1735. An example of this original model, which at 10 1/4 inches, 26 cm, high, was somewhat larger than the present version, is illustrated by Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere im 18 Jahrhundert, Berlin 1959 pl. 142. A second example of this larger model, bearing Japanese Palace inventory number N=284W was in the Collection of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie and was sold at Replica Shoes 's London, 1 May, 2013, lot 8
In the 1935 edition of the same book Albiker notes on p. 108 that in addition to Kirchner in 1733, a model of a water wagtail was also worked on by Johann Gottlieb Ehder in 1740. This reference, and the presence of impressed numerals on the present examples, indicate that they are probably a slightly later version of Kirchner's original Japanese Palace model, presumably slightly remodelled by Ehder and intended for general sale. A third (and probably slightly later) version also exists with the bird perched on a lower stump, an example of which is in the Untermyer Collection at the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, illustrated in Yvonne Hackenbroch, Meissen and other Continental Porcelain Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1956, pl. 7, fig. 20.
Most recently a pair of the same size as the present lot from the Baillie Collection was sold at Replica Shoes 's London, 1 May, 2013, lot 9; A further pair from the Estate of Laurance S. Rockefeller was sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York, 11-12 October, 2005, lot 207.
Sotheby's Scientific Research department used noninvasive XRF for this lot to screen the green enamel for chromium, which was not detected.
In the 1935 edition of the same book Albiker notes on p. 108 that in addition to Kirchner in 1733, a model of a water wagtail was also worked on by Johann Gottlieb Ehder in 1740. This reference, and the presence of impressed numerals on the present examples, indicate that they are probably a slightly later version of Kirchner's original Japanese Palace model, presumably slightly remodelled by Ehder and intended for general sale. A third (and probably slightly later) version also exists with the bird perched on a lower stump, an example of which is in the Untermyer Collection at the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, illustrated in Yvonne Hackenbroch, Meissen and other Continental Porcelain Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1956, pl. 7, fig. 20.
Most recently a pair of the same size as the present lot from the Baillie Collection was sold at Replica Shoes 's London, 1 May, 2013, lot 9; A further pair from the Estate of Laurance S. Rockefeller was sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York, 11-12 October, 2005, lot 207.
Sotheby's Scientific Research department used noninvasive XRF for this lot to screen the green enamel for chromium, which was not detected.