A rare Pair of Meissen Rock Ptarmigans (‘Alpenschneehühner’)
Model by Johann J. Kaendler, 1756, cast and decoration shortly after; bird looking to the right: 21.5 cm high; bird looking to the left: 20.7 cm high.
The rock ptarmigan - called a tern in the manufactory records - belongs to a group of native birds ordered by August III in 1753 to decorate one of his hunting lodges (Pietsch Preziosen p. 62). Kaendler's original model from 1753 was about 28 cm high and had the distinctive beak of a seagull. Kaendler had this model revised three years later in a somewhat smaller form. The new model numbers 2407 (looking to the left) and 2408 (to the right) correspond to the year of origin 1756 (Rückert 1966 p. 42 u. Nr. 1122 T. 276).