A Very Rare Pair of Meissen Figures of Danish Pug Dogs, Circa 1745
Male: Height: 9 ins. (22.8 cms.) Length of base: 8 ½ ins. (21.5 cms.) Width of base: 3 ½ ins. (8.8 cms.)
Further images
A Very Rare Pair of Meissen Figures of Danish Pug Dogs, naturalistically modelled by J.J Kaendler. The adult male and female painted with black and white piebald coats, the pups with brown patches. The male sits alert, tail curled, gazing upward, a pink frilled ribboned bow tied around his neck. The seated female with orange ribboned bow gilded with floral decoration looks downward. Two pups rest between her forepaws, one lies recumbent, the other with green ribbon bow raises its head for grooming.
Marks: Underglaze blue crossed swords and impressed numeral 25 to the female
Further Details: The Danish pug dog is bred to be a companion dog, fashionable among court ladies in the eighteenth century. Due to their characteristic piebald coat, they are sometimes referred to as harlequin and were sent out from Denmark to France and Germany. See further discussion in Gun-Dagmar Helke & Hela Schandelmaier, Courtly Companions: Pugs and Other Dogs in Porcelain and Faience (2020).
Literature
See an illustrated example of the female with pups in Carl Albiker, Die Meissner Porzellantiere in 18. Jahrhundert (1959), cat. 182.
See an ormolu mounted pair in Gun-Dagmar Helke & Hela Schandelmaier, Courtly Companions: Pugs and Other Dogs in porcelain and Faience (2020), cats. 147-148, pp. 188-191. Additionally, an unmounted male example is illustrated, cat. 149, p. 191.
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