Pair of large Malabar figures
33 cm high, underglaze blue swords mark, Meissen models by Friedrich Elias Meyer, 1748/49, cast and decoration rd. 1750
Provenance: Coll. Arnhold No. 57; Countess Wallwitz TEFAF 2006 (Celebrating Kaendler no. 27), Rene Fribourg (II no. 478)
Description
The Malabar pair with the shell-shaped rocaille bases marks the beginning of the Rococo period in Meissen. The creator of the figures is Friedrich E. Meyer. They were made in 1748/49 and thus belong to his first Meissen models.
‘They were such successful examples of his craftsmanship that he re-modelled them in Berlin (where he worked since 1761)’ (Newman I p. 159, Lenz I T. 9 no. 39, Köllmann II no. 182).
The date of origin is - despite missing files from this period - well secured. An entry in the Journal (no. 193) of 14.04.1749 of the Paris luxury dealer (Merchant Mercier) Lazare Duvaux names the tax leaseholder Augustine Bouret de Villaumont (Den Blaauwen No. 327) as buyer of two Malabar figures with two fire-gilded bronze mountings at 120 livres. 1750 a purchase of Madame de Pompadour (No. 676) and 1751 a further of Conte D’Egmond (No. 740) at 600 livres each.
In the price courant of the Manufacture of 1760 (Berling 1900 p. 197) our large Malabar pair (14 inches = 33 cm) cost the high price of 30 Thalers, while the small pair (8 inches = 19 cm) was already available for 8 Thalers.
Because of their exquisite, high-quality painting, our Malabar figures were used in the Meissen "Jahrhundertkollektion" as models for the today painting templates (Meissner Manuskripte XIII 1999 p. 51 ff. and Wallwitz op. cit.)
Comparative pieces: Anniversary Exhibition 2010 No. 379 (= Rijksmuseum Catalogue No. 327), Coll. Klemperer (No. 518, 519 T. 890), J. Pierpont Morgan (Waedsworth Atheneum No. 54), Jack and Bell Linsky Collection (Sotheby’s 21.05.1985 No. 61)
Literature
Berling, Karl: Das Meissner Porzellan und seine Geschichte. Leipzig 1900
Den Blaauwen, Abraham L.: Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam 2000
Cassidy-Geiger, Maureen: The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain 1710-50. London 2008
Lenz, Georg: Berliner Porzellan: Die Manufaktur Friedrichs Des Grossen, 1763–1786. Berlin 1913
Newman, Michael: Die deutschen Porzellan-Manufakturen im 18. Jahrhundert. Band I. Braunschweig 1977
Picture-gallery
