Meissen, models after 1739 by Johann Joachim Kändler and Johann Gottfried Ehder.

Associated as a pair. Plumage, painted in shades of green and blue, accentuated in brown. No marks. One bird with incised number V0 and two-fold press number 45.

H 32.7 cm.

Restorations

SALE ROOM NOTICE: One bird (left in the photo) of later date.

The Saxon Elector and King of Poland, August the Strong, and from 1733 his son August III, commissioned a large number of birds for the magnificent decoration of the Japanese Palace in Dresden.

The models of the rollers were made in two different sizes, i.e. 37.5 cm and 33 cm. The larger model was designed by Kändler in 1735 and completed in 1736 and was intended exclusively for the Elector and his collections in the Japanese Palace.

The smaller models were available for sale from 1740 onwards (Kirsch 2019, p. 429 with reference to S. Wittwer, 2004). By slightly modifying the model and making it a little smaller, the items could be made available for sale, while maintaining the exclusivity of the earlier royal model. The same procedure was followed with respect to the wagtails and magpies (Kirsch 2019, p. 431).


Comparative literature and comparable items:
Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere, 1935, pl. XXVIII, no. 109; Rainer Rückert, Meissen Porcelain, 1966, pl. 272 nos.110, 111; Samuel Wittwer, Die Galerie der Meissener Tiere: die Menagerie Augusts des Starken für das Japanische Palais in Dresden, 2004, p. 330; Friedel Kirsch, Langeloh Porcelain. Hundert Jahre Porzellane und Fayencen des 18. Jahrhunderts, 2019, pp. 426-433; Christie's New York, Property from the Estate of Mrs. Charles Engelhard, 18 March 2005, Lot No. 33; for two very similar models, see Collection of Nelson A. Rockefeller and Laurance S. Rockefeller at Sotheby's New York, 11 January 2005, Lot No. 191 and Sotheby's Paris, 9 November 2012, Lot No. 99; Lily & Edmond Safra Collection, Sotheby's New York, 11 October 2011, Lot No. 1142.