Model by Johann J. Kaendler, 1756, cast and decoration shortly after
Bird looking to the right: 21.5 cm high; no swords mark; model number: 2408 (= end of 1756) / Bird looking to the left: 20.7 cm high; no swords mark; model number: 2407 (= end of 1756)
The rock ptarmigans — referred to as terns in the manufactory records — belong to a group of native birds ordered by Augustus III in 1753 to furnish one of his hunting lodges (Pietsch, Preziosen, p. 62). Kaendler’s original model from 1753 was approximately 28 cm high, featuring the distinctive beak of a gull. Three years later, Kaendler revised this model in a slightly smaller form. The new model numbers 2407 (looking to the left) and 2408 (looking to the right) correspond to the creation year 1756 (Rückert 1966, p. 42 and no. 1122, pl. 276). Kaendler’s work report has unfortunately been lost.
In the literature, the designation of the model varies between tern (Rückert, op. cit., Albiker I and II, Walcha fig. 127, Pietsch, op. cit., p. 62) and dove (Pietsch 2006, nos. 255, 256, Biersdorfer Collection). In the sales catalog of the VEB State Porcelain Manufactory Meissen, the model is listed as a tern with the specified model numbers 2407 and 2408 ("Colorful Birds," Sheet 5; see also Bergmann 2017, vol. III, p. 292).
At TEFAF Maastricht 2022, Prof. Dr. Hans Ottomeyer visited us and examined our pair of birds. Due to his ornithological expertise, he was as dissatisfied with the designation from the Meissen literature as we were, which led him to begin his research. The very next day, he shared the result with us: the bird pair is identified as the "rock ptarmigan," whose plumage adapts to its surroundings (see image below).
On Wikipedia, one reads (page accessed June 2022): "In winter, as the name ptarmigan suggests, they are almost entirely snow-white... With the spring molt, the male’s upper side becomes speckled: head and neck, upper chest, back, wing coverts, and sides are flecked and banded in shades of gray-brown, black, beige, and white, creating an optical blending with the now snow-free environment. The females have a somewhat less contrasting coloration overall. With the molt, the white areas on the upper side completely disappear, leaving only the primary feathers white, as in all plumages. The ptarmigans now have an overall gray-speckled appearance."
The assumption that the figures are ptarmigans was also confirmed by one of our collectors from Norway. He told us at the Munich art fair HIGHLIGHTS in October 2024 that ptarmigan hunting begins in Norway in the autumn. As such, he knows these birds very well, and the Meissen models bear an exact resemblance to this popular game bird.
Comparative Pieces (Pairs)
