A MEISSEN MODEL OF A CAT

This model and its companion are first recorded in Kändler's Taxa for September 1736 which lists: '2 Stük Kleine Kätzgen aufs Lager in Thon poussiert, davon eine sitzend, die andere aber, wie sie eine Maus im Maule hat vorgestellet ist.' (2 small cats modelled in clay in the storehouse, of which one is seated, the other with a mouse in the mouth). See Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere im 18. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1959, p. 24, no. 216 for the companion holding a mouse and work record entries for 1736, 1741 and 1740-1748 relating to both models. A very similar example of the model was sold from the collection of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie at Sotheby's, London, 1 May 2013, lot 201.