623 - Wendt & Kühn musical box with angel musicians, red wings, probably export model 1960s

Wendt & Kühn musical box with angel musicians, red wings, probably export model 1960s Wood, turned and polychrome painted, musical box by Wendt & Kühn, Grünhainichen, probably export version for Sweden. On the underside round green label with stylised spruce above mountains, "W.u.K." and "Made in Germany". Decagonal body in dark blue with yellow star painting, light blue edge, ten gold-coloured ball feet, at the side a brass-coloured winding key and pin with ball knob. On a round gold-coloured disc a centrally rotating group of three fir trees on a cream-white base, surrounded by seven angels with large and small drum, wind instruments, hand bell and sheet music as well as candle and bell; all angels with blond hair, white dress and red wings with eleven golden-brown dots. Good age-appropriate condition, one arm of an angel holding a wind instrument has been glued and shows some paint loss, edges are partially rubbed. D. 20 cm, H. 26 cm. Wendt & Kühn was founded on 1 October 1915 by Grete Wendt and Margarete Kühn in Grünhainichen; by the end of the 1920s around three quarters of turnover already came from exports. Grete Wendt designed the first musical boxes in the 1920s as figure scenes around a central motif; the movements of these musical boxes were supplied by Swiss manufacturers, first Thorens, later Reuge and Jobin. In the 1960s dedicated items were created for Swedish customers for the Lucia festival, the festival of lights in the pre-Christmas season: figures for the Lucia procession, a musical box with Lucia children and a musical box with angel musicians, for which the manufactory states red wings with golden dots instead of the familiar green with eleven white dots. The Grünhainichen angel was designed by Grete Wendt in 1923, has been in the catalogue since 1925 and is protected by trademark law. Today the manufactory offers the musical box "Engelzug" with blue star-patterned body, in which orchestra angels process around the slender fir trees. After nationalisation in 1972 as VEB Werk-Kunst Grünhainichen, the company was reprivatised in 1990 and is run by the Wendt family.