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Tea-pot in shape of a
Japanese dwarf cock (Bantam Cock)
Meissen 1730
One of the first and most sumptuous
Meissen jug in animal guise
model by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner
h. 15,6 cm; w. 19 cm
Caduceus mark
old collection label ‘Collection Jules Desurmont’
further label ‘Poulet en Saxe …’
Provenance
Collection Jules et Therese Desurmont, Nordfrankreich
Meissen Bantam Cock
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The model for the Japanese dwarf cock tea-pot belongs to the rarest,
earliest, and most sought after small animal models of the early
Meissen period. During the last 70 years it appeared on the market
only twice: At the occasion of the legendary Rothschild-Auction in
1977, a pair of Bantam Tea-Pots reached by far the highest price. Then
in 2005, the same couple formed the gem of the famous Meissen Bird
Collection by Laurence S. Rockefeller, NY, that was compiled during
thirty years.
In 1730, the first master modeller of the Meissen manufactory, Johann
Gottlieb Kirchner had modelled the Bantan Tea-pot after a Japanese
masterpiece of Arita on commission of the Parisian big merchant
Lemaire.
Due to the thorough studies by Julia Weber (vol. I pp. 53 f.), based on
old Parisian exhibition and collection catalogues from the mid of the
18th century, we have got a lively impression of this period and the
Parisian art market. Weber describes the context in which Lemaire
started up his commercial relationship with Augustus the Strong
and his manufactory: Lemaire was a true connoisseur of the Parisian demand for luxury goods and he knew the predilection of French
Court and the Parisian collectors for Arita porcelain, where the Bantam Tea-pot was extraordinarily famous. Because of this demand and
their splendour Japanese Bantam Cocks reached the highest prices.
Already in 1747, at the auction of the Collection Fonspertius (managed by the famous Parisian art dealer Gersaint) they reached by far
the peak value of 428 Livre (loc. cit.). Lemaire knew the Count of Hoym
well, who was the Saxon envoy (1723 –1729)
in Versailles / Paris and later the minister of
cabinet of August the Strong, then since 1729,
director of the Meissen manufactory. Lemaire
used this connection to large extent for reproducing Japanese original models in Meissen at
relatively low cost to sell them as originals on
the Parisian market with considerable profit.
Caduceus mark
Of course, it was essential to this business,
that the Meissen Kakiemon porcelains carried
either no swordsmark, or just swords on glaze in enamel-blue, which
could be easily removed. But sometimes they were signed with the
– in Paris more or less unknown – Caduceus-mark, which was only
shortly in use some years before during the beginning 1720ies.
Meissen Bantam Cock
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The fact, that all known pieces of the Meissen Bantam Cock carry the
Caduceus-mark, proves, that at the time they were delivered to Lemaire (Weber I p. 53). And indeed, as Weber has pointed out, at this point
in time some appeared on the Parisian art market (Weber I p. 54).
Lemaire knew the extremely high estimation of the Bantam Cock Teapot and used this knowledge to his advantage. In Paris he bought an
Arita original, brought it to Saxony, in order to have it reproduced in
Meissen porcelain.
Japanese examples of Arita porcelain dwarf roosters, dating from 17th to the beginning
of 18th century. Left: Gardiner Museum, Toronto (Inv.-no. G05.11.16), right: Museum für
Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne (Inv.-no. F 72,2)
In his contract with the Royal Manufactory of the 30est of September
1729 in § 4, he reserved explicitly that ‘some pieces after his model
should be produced only on approval’ (Boltz 88/1980 pp. 5 f.). Without further details set in advance the owed price and the number of pieces
shall be set according to further agreement (‘accordiret’) between him
and the commission. In his letters to Augustus the Strong, he moaneed
about the high costs of the obtained models (Boltz Ibid.).
On the Parisian market, these Meissen reproductions sold to immense
sums – even later when commerce had already recognised the difference between Meissen and Arita. The Bantam Cock was Lemaire’s top
model. It secured him considerable profit, even larger than what he
gained with other Meissen copies of Arita originals of Japanese Palace.
Meissen Bantam Cock
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In the Collection of the already mentioned Parisian art dealer
Gersaint there were two Bantam Tea-pots ‘d’ancien saxe’, which later
at the auctioning of his bequest in 1767, brought 100 Livres (Weber I
p. 54 fn 305).
The exceptional Arita cock is so far Lemaire’s only model, of which
can be said, that it neither goes back to Arita originals of the Royal
Collection of Augustus the Strong, nor to master-models of the Meissen manufactory, but to a model imported by Lemaire himself. This
is so certain, because according to the books – meticulously adhered
by the Saxon record officers – which were published by Boltz in 1980
(Keramos 88), one can exactly verify, which Meissen pieces had been
delivered to Lemaire and which Japanese originals served as mastermodels for them.
Also the Bantam Roosters lack in the precise listings of those porcelains, brought for the purpose of imitation – without the King’s know­
ledge – out of the Japanese Palace to the Meissen manufactory (Boltz
1980 pp. 16 – 19 and pp. 20 – 21). Furthermore they lacked within the vast
Collection of Augustus the Strong, there is neither the Arita model nor
a Meissen Bantam Tea-pot with a ‘Johanneum’ palace number.
They also don’t appear on the first and second price-list of Lemaire’s
porcelains, whereby those porcelains, going back to models provided
by Lemaire himself – true to the contract – were not subject of the
price list (Boltz p. 7 §4). Because of their particular status they also do
not appear on the delivery-lists to Lemaire (Boltz S. 23 ff.).
Finally they were also not in the Count Hoym’s residence, of which all
of his and Lemaire’s porcelains were confiscated beginning of April
1731 (altogether more than 4000 pieces) and brought into the Japanese Palace, where they were marked with incised ‘Johanneum’ palace numbers. This means that the Arita basic model, as much as the
Meissen copies were already distributed on the Parisian market at the
point in time (in March 1731), when the Lemaire affair was revealed.
Meissen Bantam Cock
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Kirchner not Kaendler
Sofar, research emanated from the idea – Albiker (I pp. 79 and 81) and
Rückert (no. 1133, 1134 and plate 279) – that Johann J. Kaendler was the
creator of the Meissen Bantam cock and they thought to prove this
with a very early formulation in Kaendler’s work report of May 1732:
‘also formed two little cocks’
(‘Auch zwei kleine Hähne poußiret’)
(Pietsch 2002 p. 15)
Grounding on this short and not very concrete formulation the conclusion to Kaendler was not mandatory and was indeed later refuted
by Julia Weber (vol. I p. 53 fig. 25) by showing that the Bantam Tea-pots
were object to the Lemaire-/ Hoym-collaboration. As mentioned
above, this is proven by the fact that all known copies do not carry the
swords- but the Caduceus-mark. This precludes Kaendler as moulder,
since his time in Meissen began on the 22nd of June 1731, after the affair had already been uncovered in March 1731.
The Caduceus mark, which was just in use for a short period of time
beginning of the 1720ies, was reactivated during the Lemaire-affair;
of course without the king’s authorisation and knowledge, to comply
to Lemaire’s desire to omit the swordsmark in underglaze blue on
the Saxon Arita reproductions for the Parisian market. Indeed Lemaire during his later interrogations to the case before his expelling
of Saxony added that for ‘his porcelains’ the Caduceus mark was used
(Boltz 1980 p. 51).
After the disclosure of the affair Augustus the Strong put an end to
this. In March and September 1731 he prohibited the use of the Caduceus mark for the French market (Boltz 1996 p. 7). As a consequence,
when Kaendler was inaugurated in May 1732, this prohibition was
already in force, so that his authorship of the jug can be excluded with
certainty.
The first master sculptor of the Meissen manufactory was Johann
Gottlieb Kirchner, from the 29th of April 1727 to April 1728, as much a
second time from the 1rst of June 1730 to the 31rst of March 1731, he
worked for the manufactory. Before his employment Meissen had no
master sculptor. But with Kirchner Augustus the Strong won an im-
Meissen Bantam Cock
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portant artist for his porcelain manufactory. Thus, he was the superior of the later engaged sculptor Kaendler and had the king’s goodwill.
Kirchner developed the quality of Meissen figures to new shores and
created significant artworks of porcelain – the new material at that
time. Rückert wrote ‘applied and figurative form merged into an exceptional unit’ (1966 p. 161). Our Bantam tea-pot is a fitting example of this.
With Johann G. Kirchner started the development of the individual
style of European figurative porcelain, later followed up and brought
to its perfection by Johann J. Kaendler (Rückert loc. cit.).
In the work records his job for Lemaire is explicitely emphasised.
A noting of the 30est of June 1730 is reported, that re-employed master-sculptor Kirchner had already ‘modelled more than 30 pieces of the
French salesman Lemaire’ (Weber I p. 40). Kirchner was reputed for his
love and capability to work after templates, drawings and models (Zimmermann 1929 p. 19).
Without a doubt the Bantam rooster goes back to Kirchner. So it was
him, who had created one of the first jug in animal shape, which was
later adopted and varied by Kaendler: e.g. there were tea-pots in the
shape of chicken, ducks, geese, partridges, swans, monkeys, squirrels
and so forth.
Meissen Bantam Cock
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Bantam chicken
Bantam chicken are a popular Asian race of dwarf-chicken, whose
name derives from the Indonesian port city Bantam. Because of its
colourful plumage it became acclaimed in Europe.
Provenance
Collection Jules Desurmont (1863 – 1619) and his wife Thérèse Desurmont-Motte (1868 – 1963)
Both descend of old industrial families of Northern France. Together
they cultivated a devoted collector-passion of the large field of European ceramic: Delft, Tournai and the French faïence manufactories,
but also Chantilly and Meissen. After the early death of her husband
Jules, Thérèse Desurmont continued to develop the collection up to
500 pieces. It belonged to the most important and famous collections
in France, whose pieces formed the emphasis of almost all expositions
in France. The European Kakiemon- and Chinoiserie-style was one of
its focus.
Thérèse Desurmont sitting next to her Bantam cock, Paris 1922
Meissen Bantam Cock
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Comparative pieces
The Meissen Bantam cocks have slightly varying sizes. Only 5 pairs
and 4 single pieces could be found (of these, 1 pair and 1 single piece are later
decorated):
–Collection Laurence S. Rockefller
A pair / height: 19,7 & 19,4 cm / length: 24,2 & 22,8 cm
Sotheb’s New York 11.10.2005, no. 190, with an introduction on Laurence
Rockefeller’s Meissen bird collection by James G. Niven, Vice Chairman Sotheby’s
=
=
=
=
=
Principe Rospigliosi, Rom
Coll. Badini, Florenz
Coll. Baron Pannwitz (Helbing 25.10.1905 nos. 316 - 317)
Coll. Hermine Feist, Berlin (Albiker II no. 111)
Baron Edmond de Rothschild (Christie’s 17.10.1977 no. 192)
–Irwin Untermyer Collection, New York
A pair / height: 16 & 15,9 cm / length: 19 & 17,8 cm
Hackenbroich 1956 fig 18 plate 13
= Baron Nathaniel Rothschild, Vienna & Baron Albert Rothschild, Vienna
Part of the collection ‘Masterpieces of European Porcelain’
Metropolitam Museum of Art, New York 1949 (Avery 1949 no. 274
–Collection Drach
A pair with a Parisian Vermeil mounting / height: 16 cm (without mounting)
XXII. Auction Ball / Graupe 15.03.1933 ‘77 Meissener Porzellanvögel’,
anonymous (Coll. Drach) no. 54 plate 12, 5.600 Mark, Metzger Paris
Meissen Bantam Cock
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–Collection Schneider,
Castle Lustheim Bavarian National Museum
A pair / height: 15,6 & 16,5 cm / length: 19 & 19,5 cm / later decoration
Rückert 1966 nos. 1133 u. 1134
= Keramik Freunde der Schweiz 50 / 1960 fig. 153
= Exhibition catalogue Jegenstorf 1952, showcase XVII no. 5 p. 24
–Earl of Chichester Salysbury, Wiltshire UK
A pair, 17.06.2002 robbed, Antique Trade Gazette vom 27.07.2002
–Castle Moritzburg
Hunting Palace of Augustus the Strong
Height: 20,5 cm / nearly white decoration
Albiker II no. 112; Albiker I no. 81 plate 24
–Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection
Metropolitam Museum of Art, New York
Hackenbroich: Exhibition catalogue MET, NY 1975, no. 4
–Landesmuseum Schwerin
Height: 15,1 cm / length: 18,3 cm / later decoration
Möller 2006, no. 83
From old noble estate, the dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
–Elfriede Langeloh
Meissen Bantam Cock
Our Bantam cock from the Collection Desurmont
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Literature
Albiker, Carl: Die Meissener Porzellantiere im 18. Jahrhundert. 1935
Avery, C. Louise: Masterpieces of European Porcelain.
Ausstellungskatalog Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1949
Ayers, John; Impey, Oliver; Mallet, J.V.G.: Porcelain for Palaces. The Fashion
for Japan in Europe. 1650 – 1750. 1990
Boltz, Claus:
– ‘Hoym, Lemaire und Meissen.’ In Keramos 88 / 1980
–‘Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar 1769.’ In Keramos 153 / 1996
Ducret, Siegfried: Das Tier in der Kunst des 18. Jahrhunderts: Schloß Jegenstorf. Exhibition 1952.
Hackenbroich, Yvonne: Meissen and Other Continental Porcelain Faience and
Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection. 1956
Möller, Karin Anette: Meissener Porzellanplastik des 18. Jahrhunderts. Die
Schweriner Sammlung. Schwerin 2006
Pietsch, Ulrich: Die Arbeitsberichte des Meissner Porzellanmodelleurs Johann
Joachim Kaendler 1706 – 1775. Leipzig 2002
Röntgen, Robert E.: ‘Marken und Zeichen der Blaumalerei.’ In Exhibition
catalogue Meißener Blaumalerei aus drei Jahrhunderten. München 1989
Rückert, Rainer: Meissener Porzellan 1710–1810. München 1966
Zimmermann, Ernst:
– Die Erfindung und Frühzeit des Meissner Porzellans. Berlin 1908
– Kirchner, der Vorläufer Kändlers an der Meissener Manufaktur. Berlin 1929
Meissen Bantam Cock
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