854 - Meissen Königliche Porzellanmanufaktur

Meissen Königliche Porzellanmanufaktur Johann Joachim Kaendler, zugeschrieben A Meissen porcelain lover's group "La Cage" Two-figure group beside a tree, also known as “Mezzetin and Colombine” or “Scaramouche and Columbine”. His doublet in purple with yellow cuffs and breeches, her white skirt decorated with colourful Oriental flowers. A yellow-painted bird perched on the floor of the cage. Rich sculptural foliage and floral decoration on the base. Unglazed, unmarked base. Restored. Height 18 cm. C. 1740/41, model by Johann Joachim Kaendler. Kaendler does not mention the group in his workshop reports, but it is included in the Taxa transcribed by Menzhausen: “A small group consisting of two figures embracing one another, the lady holding a birdcage in her left hand … 9 thalers.” Literature Cf. cat. Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Sammlung Pauls Riehen, Frankfurt 1967, p. 302. Cf. Menzhausen, In Porzellan verzaubert, Basel 1993, p. 196. Cf. von Wallwitz, Celebrating Kaendler, Munich 2006, pp. 94 ff. There, the group is first identified as being based on the painting by Nicolas Lancret, which hangs in the Louvre. Cf. Hackenbroch, Meissen and other Continental Porcelain Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Cambridge 1956, fig. 102, pl. 66, a second version, with a pug between Scaramouche’s legs. Another version of this group from the Emma Budge Collection, following an amicable settlement with the heirs in accordance with restitution claims, was auctioned by Lempertz, Cologne, on 13 November 2014, lot 663. On this model, see also Andres-Acevedo, Die autonomen figürlichen Plastiken Johann Joachim Kaendlers und seiner Werkstatt zwischen 1731 und 1748, vol. 2, Stuttgart 2023, Taxon 33, where a possible source for the group is mentioned: Nicolas Lancret’s painting La Cage (The Birdcage) (1690–1743).