THE PORCELAIN SHAFT AND ARMS MODELLED BY J.J. KÄNDLER IN 1735, THE PORCELAIN BULB CIRCA 1742-45, THE MOUNTS MID-18TH CENTURY AND LATER

This important chandelier was adapted from a large 10-light table-candelabrum, a model which was made for Count Brühl.¹ Only three of the large table-candelabra appear to have survived, and the present unpublished chandelier represents the discovery of a fourth.

The other known surviving examples are a pair of large candelabra in the Ernst Schneider Collection, Schloss Lustheim, Munich,² and a large candelabrum in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin.³ Both the Munich and Berlin examples have stems with laughing pagoda figures and birds which match the present lot, but their arms are formed with dragons sitting on branches, rather than with birds on branches, as found on the present lot. The models and their differently formed arms are very clearly described in Kändler’s workbook for 1735, where he records making the both models in June. He notes that the two models are very similar indeed and could easily be confused, the only difference between them being the arms, which he describes in detail; on one model (the Munich and Berlin examples) each arm is formed as “..a branch overgrown with flowers and leaves on which a young dragon sits..”, and on the other model (the present lot), each arm is formed as “..a delicate branch on which an Indian bird has sat and holds the nozzle with its wings”.⁴

The Munich and Berlin examples retain their original pedestal bases formed by three large elephant heads, an element now lost from the present lot. The Munich examples also retain their original ormolu-mounted plinth bases.

The laughing pagoda figures on all four examples (including the present lot) bear a striking resemblance to Kändler’s famous ‘indian’ plat de ménage which was created only a few years later for Count Brühl in 1737. The central part of the plat de ménage consists of a large and elaborate lemon basket surrounded by condiment ewers, all resting on a large stepped plinth base. The ormolu-mounted stepped plinth base of the Munich candelabra are extremely similar to the ormolu-mounted plinth base of the plat de ménage in the Art Institute of Chicago,⁵ suggesting that the Chicago plat de ménage may have been intended for use with the Munich candelabra. There is a slightly larger and grander plat de ménage in Munich which has more elements, and its larger size suggests that it would once have been the principal central plat de ménage in any table arrangement.⁶ It is not absolutely certain which of the Chicago or Munich plats de ménage definitely belonged to Count Brühl.⁷

The design of the large table-candelabrum appears to have partially been based upon an amalgam of two smaller 1733 models. One of these models, a candlestick that Kändler modelled in June 1733, is recorded as having been made for Count Brühl: “1 candlestick, whose pedestal consists of 3 elephant heads, their trunks forming the legs. On top of the pedestal there is a dragon, which winds around a branch, spouts fire and holds the nozzle in its jaws.”⁸ The other model, made slightly earlier in May 1733, featured an ’'indianische Figur” (Indian figure) holding the nozzle.⁹

Although the dragon branches of the Munich and Berlin examples are of the same design, the decoration of the robes on the Munich pagoda figures are different from the Berlin ones; but the decoration of the Munich pagoda figures match the pagodas of the present lot. The German mounts of the present chandelier suggest that the adaptation from candelabrum to chandelier took place in Germany, mostly probably only a few decades after it was made. It must have taken place during or after the mid-1740s because the porcelain bulb is in fact a Meissen écuelle and cover of that date; it is painted with figural scenes derived from prints after paintings by Watteau, prints which Meissen did not have in the 1730s.

1. Cf. R. Eikelmann, Meissener Porzellan, Die Stiftung Ernst Schneider in Schloss Lustheim, 2004, p. 337. Heinrich, Graf von Brühl (1700-1763) was Prime Minister of Saxony and also Director of the Meissen factory from 1733-63, the most powerful man in Saxony after the king. Brühl’s porcelain commissions from Meissen are legendary, and are among Meissen’s finest creations of the 18th century.
2. Cf. Rainer Rückert, Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, No. 712, Taf. XXI, and Eikelmann, ibid., 2004, p. 337. On each of the Schloss Lustheim examples the uppermost nozzle has been replaced with a brass sphere finial.
3. Stefan Bursche, Meissen, Steinzeug und Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, Berlin, 1980, pp. 241-243.
“1 tafel leuchter auf Indianische Art anderthalb hoch, welcher reich von Zierrathen ist, dessen Postament besteht in 3 Elephanten Köpfen, deren Rüßeln auf Schnorkeln und Laubwerk ruhen. Auf diesem Postament befinden sich 3 Pagotten, davon jeder 2 zierliche Leuchter hält, und sind lachend abgebildet. Unter diesen Pagotten ist ein Paldachin, worauf drei indianische Vögel ruhen, welche sich mit den Hälßen überrück beugen, und jeder eine Tille zum Lichte im Schnabel hält, hat also der ganze Leuchter 10 St. Lichter sehr bequem auf sich zu stecken. Die Armleuchter aber welche vorhero erwähnte 3 Pagotten halten, können nach Belieben verwechselt werden, weil derer zweyer-ley sind. Als der erste besteht in einem zierlich mit Blumen und Blättern bewachsenen Aste, darauf sich ein Lindwurm oder junger Drache gesetzt u. umwickelt hat, welcher die Tille auf dem Kopfe hält. Der andere Leuchter ist ebenfalls ein zierlicher Ast, worauf sich ein Indianischer Vogel gesetzt hat und mit den Flügeln die Tille hält”. Werkarchiv der Meißner Manufaktur: 1 A a 24/208.
4. Noted by Rainer Rückert, ibid., 1966, p. 144. For the Chicago plat de ménage pieces, see Michel Oppenheim, ‘“Der Apfeldieb”, ein Höchster Modell in einer Porzellanausformung von Damm’ in Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz, No. 60, May 1963, title page for a colour illustration. The Chicago plinth base is smaller than the Lustheim example, and is the only known surviving base other than the Lustheim example.
5. Illustrated by Katharina Hantschmann in “The ‘plat de ménage’, The Centrepiece on the Banqueting Table” in Ulrich Pietsch and Claudia Banz ed., Triumph of the Blue Swords, Meissen Porcelain for Aristocracy and Bourgeoisie 1710-1815, Porzellansammlung, Zwinger, Exhibition Catalogue, Dresden, 2010, pp. 116-117.
6. Hantschmann, ibid., 2010, pp. 114-115, points out that the Lustheim plat de ménage was reputedly formerly owned by the Prussian General Möllendorf, to whom it would have been given by Frederick The Great (Count Brühl’s plat de ménage was stolen by Frederick The Great during the Silesian Wars), making its Brühl provenance almost certain. She notes that it would be ‘appealing to think that these centrepieces used to appear together to create the enormously impressive, exotic-looking decoration on Graf Brühl’s long, festive dining table’, and that ‘there is archival evidence relating to many services showing that they included large and small ‘plats de ménage’’, but she notes that the decoration on the Lustheim ‘plat de ménage’ doesn’t match the Chicago base or the Munich candelabra bases, suggesting that they were not used together.
7. "1 Leuchter poußirt, dessen Postament bestehet in 3 Elephantenköpfen, die Rüßel sind anstatt der Beine. Oben auf dem Postament befindet sich ein Drache, welcher sich um einem Ast windet, speyet Feuer aus und hält die Tülle im Rachen", cited by Rückert, ibid., 1966, p.144, No. 712. A pair of these candlesticks from the collection of Siegried Ducret were sold in separate lots by Koller, Zürich, on 24 September 2020, lots 1265 and 1266. Lot 1265 is illustrated by Siegfried Ducret, Deutsches Porzellan und deutsche Fayencen mit Wien, Zürich, Nyon, Baden-Baden, 1962, Nr. 119.
8. "1 Leuchter von mittelmäßiger Größe, dessen Postament steht eine Indianische Figur, welche die Dille hält", cited by Bursche, ibid., 1980, p. 243.