253 - Rare Meissen figurine group depicting a wolf hunt. Set on a flat, oval base adorned with sculpted flowers and leaves, this piece features a dynamic, scenic depiction of a wolf hunt, with the wolf cornered by three hunting dogs in the shade of a tree. Polychrome painting with fine fur detailing. Designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler and Peter Reinicke, 1747. Extremely minimal restoration; height 19.5 cm.

Rare Meissen figurine group depicting a wolf hunt. Set on a flat, oval base adorned with sculpted flowers and leaves, this piece features a dynamic, scenic depiction of a wolf hunt, with the wolf cornered by three hunting dogs in the shade of a tree. Polychrome painting with fine fur detailing. Designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler and Peter Reinicke, 1747. Extremely minimal restoration; height 19.5 cm. Such figurative groups, depicting the dramatic moment of the struggle, served as table decorations for aristocratic hunting parties or as ornaments for hunting lodges. At the end of 1747, Kaendler noted the following regarding this group: “I assisted in modeling a running wolf and shaped it as closely as possible to nature.” An early version is located at Lustheim Castle, formerly in the Ernst Schneider Collection, Inv. No. ES 710. See Andres-Acevedo, Die autonomen figürlichen Plastiken, vol. 2, no. 759; see also Eikelmann, Cat. Schneider Collection, Lustheim Castle, no. 152. A porcelain hunting figure group modeled by J. J. Kaendler and P. Reinicke. Minimally restored. Meissen. Mid-18th century.