A Pair of large Meissen Malabar figures
33 cm high, underglaze blue swords mark, Meissen model by Friedrich Elias Meyer, 1748/49, cast and decoration rd. 1750
Provenance: Coll. Arnhold No. 57, Rene Fribourg (II No. 478)
The Malabar pair with the shell-shaped rocaille bases marks the beginning of the Rococo period in Meissen. The creator of the figures is Friedrich E. Meyer, who made them 1748/49. So they belong to his first Meissen models. ‘They were such successful examples of his craftsmanship that he re-modelled them in Berlin (where he worked since 1761)’ (Newman I p. 159, Lenz I T. 9 No. 39, Köllmann II No. 182).
The date of origin is - despite missing files from this period - well secured. An entry in the Journal (no. 193) of 14.04.1749 of the Parisian luxury dealer (Merchant Mercier) Lazare Duvaux names the tax leaseholder Augustine Bouret de Villaumont (Den Blaauwen No. 327) as buyer of two Malabar figures with two fire-gilded bronze mountings at 120 livres. 1750 a purchase of Madame de Pompadour (No. 676) and 1751 a further of Conte D’Egmond (No. 740) at 600 livres each.
In the price courant of the Manufacture of 1760 (Berling 1900 p. 197) our large Malabar pair (14 inches = 33 cm) cost the high price of 30 Thalers, while the small pair (8 inches = 19 cm) was already available for 8 Thalers.
Because of their exquisite, high-quality painting, our Malabar figures were used in the Meissen "Jahrhundertkollektion" as models for the today painting templates (Meissner Manuskripte XIII 1999 p. 51 ff. and Wallwitz op. cit.)
Comparative pieces: Anniversary Exhibition 2010 No. 379 (= Rijksmuseum Catalogue No. 327), Coll. Klemperer (No. 518, 519 T. 890), J. Pierpont Morgan (Waedsworth Atheneum No. 54), Jack and Bell Linsky Collection (Sotheby’s 21.05.1985 No. 61)