The Queen’s little dog
Modelled by Johann Joachim Kaendler for Queen Maria Josepha
Meissen 1738 / 39, no swords mark
The collar with the initials ‘M.J.R.P. 1739’ (= Maria Josepha Regina Poloniae)
Height: 14.3 cm
Description
The sitting little dog is mentioned in Kaendlers work record from December 1738:
‘1. Vor Ihro Majt. Die Königin ein kleines Hündlein Nach einer darzu gegebenen Mahlerey Sauber in Thon poußiret, solches Hündlein sietzet auf einer zierlich gefertigeten Tabarette, Welches Polster aus siehet als were es mit einem blumigten Zeuge beschlagt.’
[‘1. Modeled a small dog for Her Majesty the Queen according to a given painting. It sits on a dainty Tabourette whose upholstery is decorated with flowers’]
The counterpart ‘The resting little dog’, which Kaendler also made in December 1738, can be found in the Collection Pauls-Eisenbeiss (Menzhausen 1993, p. 102 and pp. 38 f.). Here the inscription on the collar reads ‘R.P.M.J. 1739 ’.
A dog without inscription and date was auctioned at Christie’s 1984 (02.07., No. 132).
Literature
Menzhausen, Ingelore: In Porzellan verzaubert. Die Figuren Johann Joachim Kändlers in Meißen aus der Sammlung Pauls Eisenbeiss. Basel 1993
Picture-gallery
