On the Continent

It was probably Buddhist figures such as these that inspired the earliest European porcelain figures — `magots’ or models of humorous little Chinese Buddhas produced on the Continent — at Meissen, Saint-Cloud, Chantilly and Mennecy — from the 1720s to 40s, and in Britain from about 1780.

The Meissen Contribution

The European porcelain figure as we know it today, however, developed not from burial goods or religious models but as centrepieces for the banqueting tables of the aristocracy. Soon after its founding in 1710, the porcelain factory at Meissen was commissioned to produce both monumental, life-size porcelain sculptures of animals and birds for Augustus the Strong’s Japanese Palace at Dresden (rarities which may fetch £50, 000-£200, 000 today), and small porcelain figures intended as table ornaments. These are generally 5-8 in (12.5-20 cm) high, and were modelled by two supremely skilful sculptors: Johann Joachim Kandler and Johann Gottlob Kirchner.

Antique Collector Magazine

Early porcelain figures of human subjects were intended to be seen from all sides and were given the illusion of movement through a vertical twist or flourish, a pose known as `contraposta’. Commedia dell’arte characters (such as Harlequin and Columbine), birds and animals, risque groups of pastoral couples, and recognisable court figures were all made, as were humorous studies of monkeys dressed as humans. Among the best known of these is the Affenkapelle.

Meissen figures of 1730-70 usually stand on a s0lid base which, in a few of the surviving pieces, is scratched with a `KHC’ (Koniglich Hofconditorei, or royal pantry) inventory number. These figures and groups can fetch up to £25,000 — far more than the less lively, later 18th-century figures designed to be kept in cabinets and viewed from one side only, which sell for £2000-£10,000.

Meissen figures from the 19th century are generally conservative, and hark back to the previ0us century. Large groups of 18th- century children and allegorical figures relating to industry (Trade’, ‘Exploration’, and so on) stand 12-18 in (30-46 cm) high and can fetch £1500-£4000. A smaller Meissen piece in the 18th-century manner can cost £250-£400, and a pair three times as much. These 19th-century Meissen figures and groups were much imitated, but original pieces are much heavier than copies (being press- moulded rather than slip-cast); the modelling is crisper and more finely detailed; the enamelling is superior and seems to be almost part of the glaze, especially the face painting; the gilding is a deeper tone of gold; and the marks are different, with the underglaze-blue crossed swords painted in a very particular way. Nonetheless, a good imitation can still fetch £300-£r500 at auction, while smaller Meissen-style figures sell for £.30-£ 1 00.

From Other Factories

Franz Anton Bustelli at Nymphenburg and Johann Peter Melchior at the Höchst factory were among the figure sculpt0rs working elsewhere in Germany in the 18th century. Bustelli’s delicately featured figures often have their head and arms at angles, giving a powerful zigzag line, while the rustic, plump-faced children by Melchior have intense, dark br0wn eyes. A porcelain original will fetch £3000-£20, 000, a Hochst-Damm revival figure £400-£1 000.

Soft-paste figures made at the French factories of Vincennes and Sevres include work by the master 18th-century sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falc0ner. His three-dimensional interpretations of groups from paintings by Francois Boucher were often left ‘in the biscuit’ - unglazed - and were produced from the same moulds over a number of years. Prices vary greatly, but groups can fetch £5000-£10,000. Coloured models and groups are more popular today than those in biscuit or ‘in the white’.

In the late 19th century, large coloured biscuit figures and busts were made in Germany and France, again in the 18th-century style. Prices range from El 000 to £3000 for a pair, although mass-produced figures 4-10 in (10-25 cm) high, often made as fairground merchandise, sell for around £20-£80. Most ‘fairings’ proper, depicting couples in ambigu0us situations, fetch £20-£100. Elaborate Art Nouveau pieces made at the B0hemian factory of Royal Dux and standing 20-25 in (50-64 cm) high, are usually matt- finished and muted in colour. They sell for £600-£2000. In the 1930s white porcelain figures and groups with bold Art Deco lines and forms were modelled in southern Germany and Austria. These can be very stylish indeed and can sometimes be bought for as little as £300-£ 1000.

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