The Muse Erato: C.3172-1928

Titles

The Muse Erato

Maker(s)

Factory: Meissen Porcelain Factory
Modeller: Kändler, Johann Joachim

Entities

• Figure

Categories

• Hard-paste porcelain

Description

Hard-paste porcelian, painted in polychrome enamels

Hard-paste porcelain, press-moulded, glazed, and painted in two shades of green, yellow, flesh pink, dark pink, red, a little purple, brown, grey, and black enamels, and lightly gilt. The flat underside is unglazed and has a round ventilation hole in the middle. The circular low mound base rises up into a rock in the centre and at the back has a tall laurel tree with seven short branches bearing green leaves and black berries. The back of the rock is inscribed 'Erato'. The ground and rock are strewn with applied green leaes and yellow, red and white and purple and white flowers. The Erato sits on the rock with her left leg over her right. Her head is turned slightly to her left, and she holds a violin in her left hand and a bow in her right. On her left knee she balances a music book with a red binding. She has a wreath of leaves and yellow flowers over her grey hair, and wears a white, sleeved tunic, which reveals her right bosom, a yellow sash, and a green cloak with a grey floral pattern, lined with dark pink and edged by a gold line. A hurdy-gurdy lies on the base to her left and a few sheets of white parchment to her right.

Notes

History note: Purchased at a shop in Brighton in a road leading to Kemp Town on 23 September 1920 for £215.

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest, 1928

Place(s) associated

• Meissen ⪼ Saxony ⪼ Germany

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

18th Century, Mid
Production date: circa AD 1745

Note

The Taxa recording Kaendler's overtime work includes in November 1744, a model of Erato playing a violin seated beneath a laurel tree accompanied by Cupid for Friedrich II, King of Prussia.

School or Style

Rococo