A MEISSEN DRINKING VESSEL AND COVER IN THE FORM OF A BEAR, CIRCA 1750, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK TO THE BACK

A MEISSEN DRINKING VESSEL AND COVER IN THE FORM OF A BEAR
CIRCA 1750, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK TO THE BACK
Modelled by J.J. Kändler, sitting on its haunches holding a banner inscribed 'Le vin est necessaire / pour égayer, Il Vous donne / du la vie courage de la force et / de l'esprit.' (Wine is necessary to be happy, it gives your life courage, fortitude and spirit)
10 in. (26.2 cm.) high

Provenance
Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 4 July 1977, lot 112.
The Christner Collection, Dallas, Christie's New York, 30 November 1979, lot 116.

Pre-Lot Text
Property from the collection of Ritter Kempski von Rakoszyn (LOTS 26 - 38)
The creation of porcelain animals at Meissen was in part a reflection of a preoccupation of the age. Animals had been used in art for a variety of purposes, for example as allegories or as studies of the marvels of nature, and as signifiers of hidden meanings and virtues. In Augustus the Strong’s reign, this culminated in the creation of the Japanese Palace, for which Kirchner and Kändler were commissioned to create a menagerie of monumental porcelain animals and birds including foxes, lions, pheasants, bears and squirrels.
Birds and beasts played a central role in the Saxon court and some of Augustus’s palaces had animal enclosures which were important Princely displays of power. Both wild and exotic animals were used during pageants. Contemporary accounts of events at Schloss Moritzburg talk of themed processions in which figures in costume were accompanied by ‘lions, tigers, bears, parrots, all manner of monkeys, and the like’.1 Like many of his royal contemporaries, Augustus the Strong collected exotic birds and animals and he and his son Augustus III were keen and accomplished huntsmen. The menagerie or Löwenhaus (lion house) was central to court life at Dresden and included a number of wild animals which were used for animal fights and hunting.
As a royal and noble passion, most festivities included a hunt in some form – an entertainment designed to show off abundance to guests, display the power and prowess of the princely hunter and to provide food for the courtly table. Hunts could take many forms: The ‘Deutsche Jagd’ or ‘drive’ allowed both gentleman and ladies of the court to shoot (from the comfort of pavilions) at birds driven into an enclosure. The ‘Parforce-Jagd’ involved the selection of a single larger animal (such as a stag e.g. lot 31) for the festivities, which was pursued by hounds accompanied by the hunter on horseback or by coach. In yet another hunt incarnation, animals were tossed into the air from nets and shot at.
There were strict regulations regarding who was entitled to hunt which kinds of animals. Pheasants and stags, for example, were reserved for the ruler and his honoured chosen guests. Many of the hunted game ended up on the court tables, often presented in wares naturalistically modelled as animals, intended to both reflect the theme of the banquet and to celebrate it; this is exemplified by lot 38, a pheasant tureen.
The exotic beasts of pageants and the victims of hunt festivities were all faithfully represented in porcelain. The naturalistic animal and bird models by Kändler were often the result of life studies from the Royal menageries and nature (see lot 27) and sometimes from engravings. These models and engravings such as those by Johann Elias Ridinger (1698-1767) represented nature in a new and naturalistic manner, in line with the age of Enlightenment. The collection of Ritter Kempski von Rakoszyn reflects the remarkable artistic skill and innovation of the Meissen artists and represents a fascinating and revealing insight into the significance of animals and the role of the hunt in courtly life. A copy of Melitta Kunze-Köllensperger, Sammlung Ritter Kempski von Rakoszyn: Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, 2008, will be available for the purchaser of each lot from the collection.

1. Samuel Wittwer, The Gallery of Meissen Animals, Munich, 2006, p. 60 where the author cites Johann Michael von Leon’s 1740 account of a parade which took place on 14th October 1718.

Literature
Melitta Kunze-Köllensperger, Sammlung Ritter Kempski von Rakoszyn: Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, 2008, p. 48, no. 31.