A rare pair of Meissen porcelain figures of a Turkish man and woman
Finely painted figures of a lady and gentleman in richly adorned robes standing on plinths entwined with flowers and foliage. Blue crossed swords mark on the glazed hollow base. Both of her hands, the foot, the pommel of the sabre and chips to the flowers and foliage restored. H 22 and 22.5 cm.
Circa 1750 – 55, model attributed to Johann Joachim Kaendler, 1750.
The depiction of the Sultana is based on the engraving "La Sultane Asseki, ou Sultane Reine" by Gérard Scotin I after a drawing by Jean Baptiste Vanmour (1671 – 1737) from "Recueil de cent Estampes representant differentes Nations du Levant", which was published in Paris in 1712 – 13.
Literature
An identical figure of a sultana from the former C.H. Fischer collection Dresden, auctioned by Heberle (H. Lempertz´ Söhne) Cologne, 22nd-25th October 1906, lot 747.
A further example owned by the Porzellansammung SKD (inv. no. PE 1591) in Pietsch, Die figürliche Meißener Porzellanplastik von Gottlieb Kirchner und Johann Joachim Kaendler, Munich 2006, no. 71.
The rare ""Groß-Sultan oder Chatir"" also found in the collection of Prof. Dr. Klaus J. Thiemann (in Antonin/Beckmann, In fürstlichen Diensten. Komödianten, Sultane und Pagoden aus Meissener Porzellan, Düsseldorf 2016, p. 42.