A pair of Meissen porcelain bouquetière figures, circa 1745-55

The male figure, Sarah-Katharina Andres-Acevedo, Die autonomen figürlichen plastiken, Johann Joachim Kaendlers und seiner werkstatt zwischen 1731 und 1748, Stuttgart, 2023, Vol. 2, p. 279, no. 121.

The figures are recorded by Kändler in his Taxa of overtime work: ‘Weib Bild sizend einen Korb auff den Schooß habend, worein Bluhmen gesezet werden können, 5 Thlr.’, [Figure of a woman seated, holding a basket on her lap into which flowers may be placed — 5 Thalers.]; and ‘Gärtner sizend, einen Blumen-Korb vor sich haltend, darein Bluhmen gesezet werden können, als ein Compagnon zur Gärtnerin, 4 Thlr’, [A gardener sitting, holding a flower basket in front of him into which flowers can be placed, as a companion to the gardener, 4 thalers] quoted by Andres-Acevedo from Johannes Rafael, ‘Zur Taxa Kaendler’, Keramos, no. 203/204, 2009, p. 55. Two pairs of these models, mounted as three-light candelabra, were sold at Sotheby’s, London, A Mansion Overlooking a Royal Park, 28 April 2015, lot 64.

Cranfield University used non-invasive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for this lot to screen the green enamel for chromium, which was not detected, a result consistent with 18th century manufacture.