11 cm high / Crossed swords mark on unglazed base
Collection label "Antique Porcelain Company"
Model from 1737, made shortly after
Rectangular hut with walls in iron-red brick pattern, with a feeding bowl on the side. Iron-red gabled roof with slanted, profiled shingles. On the roof, there is an "old" chained dog, happily gnawing on its bone.
Kaendler created the model of the doghouse shortly after joining the manufactory on June 21, 1731. It is among his earliest small-scale sculptural works, bearing the very early form numbers 17 and 18 (Gröger, p. 195). In his work reports from May 1734, he wrote (Albiker 1935, p. 65; Pietsch, p. 23, entries 2, 6, and 7; Acevedo II, pp. 32 f.):
"First, 9 small pug dogs, each in a different pose …"
"There is also a doghouse, designed as if built from stone and covered with roof tiles."
"On top of this doghouse, there are two small pugs playfully biting each other, while the old bulldog, which has crawled out of the doghouse with its chain still attached, looks up at the roof with its mouth open as if barking. Next to the doghouse, there is a feeding trough filled with various bones."
As was typical for Kaendler, he created different variations of the basic model, placing his various small pugs on the roof of the house. Later, in February 1737, additional dogs were added to the roof of the doghouse. This includes our version, featuring an "old" dog lying down and gnawing on a bone (see Kaendler’s work reports from February 1737, ibid.):
"A doghouse altered, and five dogs modeled in clay, including an old one lying on the roof and gnawing on a bone …"
