Meissen Swan
Underglaze blue faint swords mark to the back of the base / 27 cm high / Meissen model by Eberlein, Kaendler and Reinicke, c. 1748 / modell number 1069 (= 1748).
Kaendler was already intensively involved with swans as large sculptures before Count Brühl's swan service. As early as 1736, three large swans with a height of 75 cm were delivered to the royal collection as part of Augustus the Strong's large animal commission:
"Drey Schwane, so Feuer Riße haben, jeder 1 Elle 7 Zoll hoch. "
(Wittwer p. 341 fig. 70, 71 Albiker I no. 55)
The model was demonstrably made by Johann Friedrich Eberlein, as can be seen from his work record from April/May 1735, vol. 1: "Einen Großen Schwan wozu zwei Hälße."
Under the same date with serial no. 2, Eberlein reported on the smaller swan model (32 cm) of our type: "2. a similar one (swan), small (32 cm) with two necks, Johann Friedrich Eberlein, sculptor " (Wittwer ibid.).
The porcelain collection in the Zwinger has such a swan (inv. no. PE3909, 31.7 cm high, modell number 144, illustrated in Acevedo vol. II no. 83 p. 43).
Kaendler took up the topic again in 1749 before Eberlein's death (20 July 1749). He revised Eberlein's model only slightly, with minor changes to the position of the head, a slightly stronger rotation of the neck, the beak more open and a slightly stronger rotation of the neck while retaining the base and the body.
In Meissen, it was customary to give the revised moulds and models a new modell number. In our case, this is no. 1069, which the VEB Meissen published in its catalogue of polychrome birds, sheet 10. According to Rückert (1966 p. 42), nos. 1060-1090 were issued between August and December 1748. Eberlein retired from active employment at the end of 1747 after a long illness, so Kaendler and Reinicke began revising the model soon afterwards.
Kaendler's swan became a great success for the manufactory, which produced it in three different sizes: 22, 27 and 32 cm in height