3357 - Meissen “Hercules with Achelous as a bull”

Meissen “Hercules with Achelous as a bull” Designed by Johann Joachim Kändler and colleagues in 1753, small pale underglaze blue sword mark circa 1760, without model number 1940, mould number 1156 and indistinct brush number, naturalistic modelling with fine polychrome overglaze decoration, on an irregular plinth with a rocaille border and floral trim; a mythological depiction of the naked demigod Hercules wearing a lion’s skin, in the moment of his triumphant victory over his rival, the transformed river god Achelous, who also desires Princess Deianeira; the plinth shows some firing cracks; the bull’s tail has a stress crack and the foreleg has been neatly glued; otherwise in good condition for its age, H 14.5 cm. Source: Bergmann, Meissener Figuren, Volume III/1, p. 597, fig. 2322.