More Porcelain

Royal Sevres, France
18th Century Soft Paste - before they knew how to make real porcelain



The Sevres ecuelle above is my pride and joy of the Sevres.
Made as part of a dinner service in the 18th century,
there is a pair just like it in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I got lucky and found this one at a great price, my first year on eBay!

Click image to enlarge.

Shown above are two Sevres plates (also softpaste) and the ecuelle,
plus, a Meissen dog, explained below.
(The lady in the veranda is Italian and for sale.)



The Porcelain Zoo
by Kaendler and Kirchener,
18th C Meissen, Saxony

We first became infatuated with the world renowned, Meissen Porcelain Zoo, on a trip to Dresden.
It was created in the early 18th century for Augustus the Strong, King of Saxony
and founder of the Meissen factory.
The "zoo" was originally installed in a Japanse teahouse on the palace grounds.
It was comprised of a group of life-size, porcelain animals glazed in white.

We saw several of these original porcelain animal sculptures at the Zwinger Museum in Dresden,
during our trip there with our German friend Helga, after Maike and Stefan's wedding in 1994.
Others are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and other museums around the world.

From a collector's perspective, the exquisite details of the clay-modelling show off so well with the white glaze, emphasizing the sculptural qualities of the porcelain.

Following are photos of some of the originals. Be sure to enlarge them, so you can know what all the excitement is about! They are miraculous accomplishments, never again repeated on such scale.
Such heavy pieces as make up these life-size specimens are really too large to fire. The originals have firing cracks as a result of that fact, but, are none the less exquisite!

Click images to enlarge.

The photos of the bear, pelican and turkey (#3, #6, #7 above)
best show the details and workmanship.


On our way back to Bonn from Dresden, we stopped in Weimar
where we came across the white Meissen Spaniel (20th C.), in the center, two rows below,
and brought him home. We have since added another Meissen dog, in color, on the right below,
which is a famous model of a Bologneser Spaniel by Kaendler.
I ordered him from Germany, a few years ago; and Maike and Stefan arranged shipping for me.
I gave him to Tom for his birthday. He is early 19th century.

Click images to enlarge.

The Meissen bird (below) is from the art nouveau period, circa 1900. I found the bird and the 18th century wild boar by Frankenthal on eBay.de, last year, and had them shipped to us from Germany.

Click images to enlarge.



French Terracottas

We also have a fondness for old, French terracotta sculptures. They are rather hard to find. Below is a 19th century bust based on the original, by Rodin, of one of his mistresses.
We found her while roaming around the antique shops in New Hope, Pennsylvania,
with our friends the Henrichs, about 5 years ago. On her lower left is a monkey-gentleman and his wife, created in the 18th century, found two summers ago in Montreal.

Click image to enlarge.



Dutch Friese Stoelklok

A handmade, brass and painted-wood, Dutch Friese Stoelklock,
from the Friesland region in northern Holland, which is known for this extravagant style.
Friesian clocks were produced in small workshops, by hand, from the late 17th to the early 20th centuries, with production flourishing between 1825 and 1875.
Ours is probably from the 1870s.

Click images to enlarge.

I ordered this funky one directly from Holland, to sell.
But, after un-packing it, Tom had other ideas!
So, it is now hanging in our dining room.
(And you thought this craziness was JUST ME! Ha!)
You can see it properly hung with its weight, in the recent, dining room photos.


Continued...
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House page 7