A MEISSEN GROUP OF THE 'MARCHAND DE COEURS'

This group, one of Kändler's most elaborate crinoline groups, was first modelled in 1738. A similar group from the collection of the Late Max Hoffmann was sold in these Rooms on 21 November 2005, lot 90. Other groups in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss, Untermyer and Rijksmuseum Collections have an additional figure at the back although the present lot does not appear to have space on the rocky ground for a fourth figure. The British Museum group has only the lady and the trinket-seller (museum number 1952,1101.1). See I. Menzhausen, In Porzellan verzaubert, Die Figuren Johann Joachim Kändlers in Meissen aus der Sammlung Pauls-Eisenbeiss Basel, Basel, 1993, no. 101; Yvonne Hackenbroch, Meissen and other Continental Porcelain, Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, London, 1956, pl. 34, fig. 42, and A.L. den Blaauwen, Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2000, pp. 430-431, no. 315.