The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain, 1710–50
March 25, 2008, through June 29, 2008
Images from the Exhibition: First | Next | Last
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Great Bustard, Meissen porcelain,
1732, modeled by Johann Gottlieb
Kirchner, 1935.248; H: 33”
83.8 cm. Photo: Maggie Nimkin |
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One of the most ambitious projects undertaken at Meissen was a porcelain menagerie of lifesize animals and birds conceived as interior decoration for the king’s Japanese Palace. Several hundred were required though fewer than 300 were successfully fired before the project was abandoned. A superb example known as the Great Bustard was a gift to Heinrich Arnhold in 1935. The figure was designed by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner (1706– after 1737), the director of the modeling studio at Meissen in the early 1730s. The bird stands with its head gracefully bent back over its wing and is supported by a tree trunk covered with oak branches, leaves, and acorns. To mold and fire a figure of this size was a technical tour de force. Most of the sculptures, as with this one, have a number of firing cracks produced in the kiln. The surface has a clear glaze over which unfired oil colors were applied. The colors on most of the sculptures, including the Great Bustard, were later removed.
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The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain, 1710–50, was organized for The Frick Collection by Director Anne L. Poulet and Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, guest curator of the exhibition. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, published by The Frick Collection in association with D Giles Unlimited, London, available in mid-April in the Museum Shop and online at shopfrick.org.
The exhibition is made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Arnhold Foundation.
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