13 cm high / Sword mark on unglazed base
Model from 1734, shortly thereafter casting
Rectangular hut with walls in an iron-red brick pattern, a feeding bowl filled with bones on the side. Iron-red hipped roof with diagonally placed, profiled shingles.
On the narrow side, a chained poodle half emerging from its hut, barking at the pugs scuffling on the roof.
Kaendler created the group soon after joining the manufactory (June 21, 1731). It is among his earliest small-scale sculptural works, with very early mold numbers 17 and 18 (Gröger, p. 195). In 1734, he modeled the doghouse with the fighting pugs on the roof and the poodle, describing it in his work report in his inimitable style.
Kaendler’s Work Report, May 1734 (Albiker 1935, p. 65; Pietsch, p. 23, listed as numbers 2, 6, and 7; Acevedo II, p. 32 f.):
*"First, 9 small pug dogs, each with a different action…
Also, a doghouse, designed as if built of stone and covered with roof tiles.
On top of this doghouse are 2 small pugs, biting each other playfully. Meanwhile, the old poodle, which has crawled halfway out of the doghouse with its attached chain, watches what is happening on the roof with its mouth wide open as if barking. Next to the doghouse is a feeding trough filled with various bones."*
As was typical for Kaendler, he created multiple variations of the base model, placing different small pugs on the roof of the hut. We currently own two additional such doghouses.
Comparable Pieces:
Our version was produced relatively early. The dogs' teeth are sculpted in relief, whereas in later animal groups, they are only painted.
