Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sculpture of the Day: The Kändler Lion, 1740-44

Lion
Meissen, 1740-44
The Victoria & Albert Museum



Here’s another Meissen Porcelain piece by Johann Joachim Kändler. While we tend to think of human representations when we think of Meissen figures, the concern did produce a fair amount of animal figures which were faithfully copied from engravings and painted as naturalistically as possible. These expensive figures were presented on elaborate swirling mounts in the Rococo style.

This handsome figure--one of a pair--depicts a lion. Made of hard-paste porcelain, it features Rococo French ormolu mounts and is painted in enamels. It was made between 1740 and 1744 and mounted between 1755 and 1750. 








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