111 - Complete Meissen Monkey Orchestra, 22-piece set; On a relief-decorated rocaille base, 21 standing or seated figures: a bandmaster with a music stand, flutists, violinists, double bassists, clarinetists, a pianist, a bagpiper, a bassoonist, a triangle player, a guitarist, a drummer, a timpanist and timpani bearer, a trumpeter, a French horn player, a harpist, a hurdy-gurdy player, and four female singers. Polychrome painting with gold accents. Designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler and Peter Reinicke. Model Nos. 60001–60011, 12a, 60013–60022. A few figures have been repaired or restored; Sword mark. Height: 9 cm – 18.5 cm.

Complete Meissen Monkey Orchestra, 22-piece set; On a relief-decorated rocaille base, 21 standing or seated figures: a bandmaster with a music stand, flutists, violinists, double bassists, clarinetists, a pianist, a bagpiper, a bassoonist, a triangle player, a guitarist, a drummer, a timpanist and timpani bearer, a trumpeter, a French horn player, a harpist, a hurdy-gurdy player, and four female singers. Polychrome painting with gold accents. Designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler and Peter Reinicke. Model Nos. 60001–60011, 12a, 60013–60022. A few figures have been repaired or restored; Sword mark. Height: 9 cm – 18.5 cm. As early as 1753, Kaendler created an ensemble of monkey figures playing music in colorful clothing with an affected expression, reportedly for Madame de Pompadour; he revised this work in collaboration with Peter Reinicke around 1765–1766. Depictions of animals with human characteristics and behaviors enjoyed immense popularity, not least because of the great interest in fable poetry in the 18th century, especially in the so-called “Singeries” by French artists, which featured curious, scenic depictions of monkeys acting like humans in various situations. See Rückert, Cat. Bavarian National Museum, p. 192; Sonntag, “Monkey Orchestra” made of Meissen porcelain, pp. 29ff. A complete 22-piece collection of porcelain figures from the “monkey orchestra” modeled by J. J. Kaendler and P. Reinicke. A few figures are chipped or restored. Marked with crossed swords. Meissen. After 1972.