RARE MODEL OF A KINGFISHER,
Meissen, ca. 1735–39. Model by Johann Joachim Kändler for the Japanese Palace in Dresden.
No mark. Traces of a hand-written inventory number in black, on the bottom.
H 23 cm.

Restored beak, glued. Leaves on the rock, in part restored; leaves and reeds, in part chipped.

Provenance:
- Swiss private collection.

In the Gallery of the Japanese Palace, the redesign of which was commissioned in 1730 by August the Strong (1670-1733), the famous Meissen menagerie with life-size animal sculptures was to be exhibited.

Only a few smaller models remain, such as that of the kingfisher, which can be found on a 1735 work list for the Japanese Palace: "12. Ein Eis Vogel poussiret Wie er auf einem kleinen Stein Klipgen sitzet daran etwas Blätter Werk gewachsen ist".
Only four copies of this rare bird model were delivered to the Japanese Palace in 1736. In the inventory of 1770 only two specimens (Johanneum number N=353-w) remain, which were later deleted from the inventory with the remark 'were broken during cleaning' (Samuel Wittwer, Die Galerie der Meissener Tiere. The Menagerie of August the Strong for the Japanese Palace in Dresden, Munich, 2006, p. 318).

Comparative items:
Metropolitan Museum New York, Collection Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman (1976.155.122); Collection Sir Gawaine & Lady Baillie, Auction Sotheby's London, 1 May 2013, Lot No. 11.