Friday, January 20, 2017

Meissen Figurines in Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Monkey-Conductor & Monkey-Musicians
ca. 1753
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Candlestick with Monkey-Conductor
ca. 1753
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Candlestick with Monkey-Drummer
ca. 1753
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Candlestick with Monkey-Violinist
ca. 1753
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Affenkapelle-ware (literally "monkey-orchestra-ware") refers to a series of figures created by the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in Saxony about 1747 and imitated later. Believed to be a  parody of the Dresden Court Orchestra, the set was modeled by the German sculptors Johann Joachim Kändler and Peter Reinicke after fanicful singerie (monkies in human costume) engravings by the French artists Jean-Antoine Watteau and Christophe Huet. Each monkey musician, dressed in delicately colored formal 18th-century costume, stands on a gilded scrollwork base of leaves and flowers: a male monkey conducts, four females sing, and each of the others play a musical instrument. In 1753 Meissen supplied the Marquise de Pompadour with a "concert" of 19 players, which is the largest known surviving group, though there is evidence that a whole set might have numbered 25. The figures belong to the most brilliant period of Meissen porcelain, and Kändler's mastery of expression clearly transcends mere caricature.

 adapted from the Encyclopaedia Britannica

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Europa
1746-47
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Venus in her Chariot
1774
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Catherine the Great on horseback
1770
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Fireplace-Vase with figure of Apollo
1744-45
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Fireplace-Vase with figure of Mercury
1744-45
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Leda and the Swan
ca. 1744
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Swan
ca. 1748
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Allegory of Architecture
1772-74
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Basket of Flowers on Stand with Swans
ca. 1750
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
Clock in form of a Chariot
ca. 1750
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg