A Meissen porcelain figure of a partridge, circa 1741-45

Olive, Lady Baillie (1899-1974), Lowndes House, London (dining room), acquired from Maison Jansen, Paris, 29 June 1937;

Property from the Collection of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie, Sotheby’s, London, 1 May 2013, lot 23;

Acquired at the above sale. 

The Baillie Collection

Few private collections can rival the distinction, scale, and historic importance of the Baillie Collection of 18th-century Meissen porcelain birds and animals. Assembled over two generations with discerning vision and unwavering passion, it stands among the most celebrated collections of its kind ever to come to market. The story of the collection began in the 1930s, when Lady Baillie—heiress to the illustrious American Whitney family—began acquiring Meissen birds for Leeds Castle, the medieval residence she had magnificently restored. There, amid one of England’s most storied settings, the collection took shape as a reflection of both refined taste and scholarly intent. Her son, Gawaine, raised in the presence of these masterworks, inherited not only the collection but also his mother’s connoisseurship. Together with his wife Margot, he expanded it with remarkable acuity, transforming it into a collection of exceptional breadth, comprising more than 140 models.

Kändler's Taxa for 1740-48 records: '1 Rebhuhn in Lebens Größe, als ein Gegner gegen ein schon gefertigtes Rephuhn. 3 Thlr', [One life-size partridge, as a pair to a partridge already completed. 3 Thlr.] 

Further examples were in the renowned pre-War Collections of Emma Budge, Hamburg, sold, Paul Graupe, Berlin, 27-29 September 1937, lot 776; Baron von Born, Budapest, sold, Rudolph Lepke’s Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 4 December 1929, lots 9-10 and Gustav von Gerhardt, Budapest, Rudolph Lepke's, Berlin, 7 November 1911, lot 92.