652 - Balthasar Permoser, Werkstatt

Balthasar Permoser, Werkstatt A Dresden sandstone sculpture of Putto as the embodiment of Abundantia Former garden sculpture. A child standing slightly to one side on a small square plinth and a single supporting leg, holding a large cornucopia full of coins, with the free leg resting on a long cloth drape. H 107.5, plinth W 33, D 34 cm. Workshop of Balthasar Permoser, early 18th century Balthasar Permoser (1651–1732), who was born in Upper Bavaria, was summoned to the court in Dresden by Elector Johann Georg III in 1689, where he became famous above all for his fantastic artistic creations for the Elector’s son, Elector Friedrich August I, known as Augustus the Strong. His sculptural decorations of the Zwinger still fascinate visitors today, as do the smaller treasures in the Green Vault, such as the Exotic Man with the Emerald Step (Inv. VIII 303) or his Four Seasons, also carved from ivory (Inv. Nos. II 45, 46, 48, 49). Permoser also created a series of sculptures for the Schwerin Palace Gardens and worked for Frederick I, King of Prussia, at the Berlin Palace. The exact scope of his oeuvre was first documented by Siegfried Asche in 1978, but is still being expanded. Literature Cf. Asche, Balthasar Permoser. Leben und Werk, Berlin 1978, fig. 197, The mourning child from the Eisenstuck family crypt in Annaberg, c. 1710. Cf. cat. Balthasar Permoser hat’s gemacht – Der Hofbildhauer in Dresden, Dresden 2002, cat. no. 4, Chronos, formerly Seerhausen Castle Park, in a similar pose.