THE PORCELAIN MID-18TH CENTURY, THE DECORATION OF LATER DATE, FAINT BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK, MODELED BY J.J. KÄNDLER

Kändler’s work report for 1741 records that between July and August he worked on a model of a cockerel out of hours: Einen Hauss Hahn [a domestic cockerel] and a companion model of a hen⁽¹⁾. Kändler’s Taxa for 1740-1744 records: 1 Hahn von ziemlicher Grösse nach der Natur, wie er auff dem Rasen stehend schreyet, vor ermelte Printzessin, ….5 Thlr. – [1 cock of proper size after Nature, standing on the grass crowing, for the Princess mentioned before, ….5 Thalers]⁽²⁾. The previous entry (a sugar-box in the form of a hen with two chicks) was made for the ‘Printzessin von Hertfordt’. In December 1742 his work report records: Einen Hahn und eine Henne Von feiner grösse, Welche Vor die Gräfin Heerfort bestellet Worden, gehöriger masen Zerschnitten und Zum abformen gegeben [One cockerel and one hen of fine size, which were ordered for the Countess of Herford, cut to the appropriate size and given over for casting]⁽³⁾.

In Johannes Rafael’s article on the Taxa, the client for the cockerel is listed as Princess Henriette Amalie of Anhalt-Dessau (1720-1793), who was banished from Dessau after refusing to marry the father of her illegitimate son. She became the canoness at Herford for twelve years before settling near Frankfurt where she amassed an art and natural history collection. Ulrich Pietsch gives a different client for the model: Princess Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau of the House of Ascania (1682-1750), and later the Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt. From 1729-1750 she was the Abbess of Herford Abbey.

Compare the example from the Untermyer collection now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no. 64.101.29.

1. Cited by Ulrich Pietsch, Die Arbeitsberichte des Meissener Porzellanmodelleurs, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Leipzig, 2002, p. 87.
2. Cited by Johannes Rafael, ‘Zur “Taxa Kaendler”’ in Keramos 203⁄204, 2009, p. 57, no. 144.
3. Cited by Ulrich Pietsch, ibid., 2002, p. 94.