Lady on a Visiting Chair with Moor, Table, and Pug
Meissen model by Johann Joachim Kaendler, 1737; cast and decoration ca. 1740 / Height: 15.5 cm; Width: 18 cm
Work record, April 1737 (Pietsch 2002, p. 46, no. 7):
"A new group started for the merchandise stock: A distinguished lady seated on a visiting chair, holding a coffee cup in her right hand, while a well-dressed gentleman kisses her left. Behind the lady stands a Moor with a credenza tray, serving. As this required significant effort, some finishing work remained for the following month."
Work record, July–August 1737 (Pietsch 2002, p. 48, entry no. 9):
"The group that was started some time ago has been completed: A well-dressed lady is seated on a visiting chair with an openwork cane-woven backrest. A finely dressed gentleman approaches to kiss her, while behind her stands a Moor serving coffee. Additionally, a small pug lies on her lap."
Provenance: Elfriede Langeloh (2004) / In 2024, the group was part of the major Kaendler exhibition at Wawel Royal Castle (Kraków 2024, no. 2)
Our group represents one of the variations of the so called Hand-Kiss Group. Instead of the gallant kissing the lady’s hand, a small round three-legged table takes his place, adorned with a chocolate pot, cup, confectionery box, snuffbox, and a rose. The lady, dressed in a grand crinoline and accompanied by a pug, wears a black choker with a large golden cross. This version is an unusually richly decorated interpretation of the famous Crinoline Group.
For the original Hand-Kiss Group, Kaendler was loosely inspired by the engraving "Le Sicilien ou l’Amour peintre" by Laurent Cars after a work by François Boucher. (Illustration in Les Œuvres de Molière, Paris 1734, Vol. 4, p. 133, cited in Brattig, Patricia (ed.): Meissen. Barockes Porzellan, Stuttgart 2010; Jean-Richard, Pierrette: L’Œuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Paris 1978, no. 429.)
The decorator of our group is the same artist who painted the lady on the visiting chair from the Thyssen collection (now in the Bavarian National Museum, Munich; see Rückert in Keramos 151/1996, fig. 155, text p. 46). Rückert describes this painter’s distinctive style as follows (op. cit.): "emphasized upper eyelid lines, the form of the eyebrow strokes, and a lip separation line with an accentuated corner of the mouth." Rückert notes a certain resemblance to the style of chief decorator Christian Gottlob Häntzschel, though not sufficient for a definite attribution.
Comparable Pieces (with Table):
- Collection Pauls-Eisenbeiss, Basel (Menzhausen 1993, p. 98) = Christie’s Geneva, 12.11.1976, no. 218
- Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin (Bursche 1980, no. 306)
- Collection Untermyer (Hackenbroch 1956, p. 37, pl. 31)
- Collection Ernst Schneider (KFS 50/1960, no. 164)
- Collection Ole Olsen (Auction Winkel & Co. Magnussen, 19.01.1944, no. 302, color plate II), not in the 1927 catalog
- Exhibition catalog Pietsch Düsseldorf 1997, no. 51 (gold-bronze mounted clock)
- Collection von Pannwitz (Helbing, 24–25.10.1905, no. 349, pl. 44, p. 22)
- Collection Kocher (Ducret: Meissener Porzellan, 1978, p. 14)
- René Fribourg Collection (Sotheby’s, 25.06.1963, no. 22)
- Sotheby’s, 25.06.1968, no. 204
