A Rare Höchst Figure of a Parrot, Circa 1750-55 | Ein seltenes Höchst Modell eines Papageis, um 1750

probably modelled by Johann Gottfried Becker and decorated by Johannes Zeschinger, with green, blue and red plumage, perched on a tree stump supported on a high rocaille scroll-moulded base heightened in blue, brown and yellow enamels

Height 13 3/8 in.

34 cm.

The Collection of Jessie Woolworth Donahue Collection, sold; Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, New York, 28-29 April, 1972, lot 142

Literature
Horst Reber, Höchster Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts aus Privatbesitz, exh. cat., Frankfurt am Main, 1984-85, p. 32 (I)

Horst Reber, Eine Rheinische Porzellan-Sammlung, Darmstadt, 2006, vol. II, pp. 16-19 and front cover

Exhibited
Frankfurt am Main, Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst, Höchster Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts aus Privatbesitz, 9 December 1984-9 January 1985, bearing label

Catalogue note
Life-size porcelain parrots made at the Höchst factory during the early 1750s are extremely rare, and only two examples appear to be recorded in the literature. The first, the present lot, appears to be the only example with a rocaille scroll-moulded base and the second, without the rocaille base, but with the same shaped square base with chamfered corners below the tree stump as that on our example, is illustrated by Kurt Röder, Das Höchster Porzellan auf der Jahrtausend-Ausstellung in Mainz 1925, Mainz, 1930, taf. 30, pl. 6c. The porcelain model is closely related to the Höchst fayence parrots modelled on high tree stump bases, of which several are extant, including an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (signed ‘iZ’, museum no. 43.100.37) and another formerly in the collection of Kiyi and Edward Pflueger, New York, bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and subsequently sold for the benefit of the museum collection by Christie’s, London, on 7 June 2011, lot 448. The porcelain models share characteristics with their fayence counterparts - a compact body, closely folded wings, the head slightly cocked and a curved, slightly open beak, though the fayence models tend to have longer tails. The modelling of the fayence parrots has been attributed to Johann Gottfried Becker, who probably came to Höchst with Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck in 1746, and both of whom had previously worked at Meissen under Johann Joachim Kändler. Becker would have been familiar with Kändler’s animal models, of which parrots were among the most popular, and the Höchst factory would have been keen to compete with Meissen to produce animal sculpture that exploited the contemporary interest in the natural world and a fascination with the exotic.

It is interesting to note that while the porcelain example illustrated by Röder, (ibid., Mainz, 1930, no. 30, pl. 6c) is shown in black and white, the description of the bird’s plumage mirrors the present lot in terms of the distribution of colours and the same neatly defined individual feathers. The painting style on both the fayence and porcelain examples is notably naturalistic in terms of palette and delineation of the feathers. Several of the known fayence parrots are signed ‘iZ’ for Johannes Zeschinger, one of the factory’s leading Maler. It is likely that Zeschinger was also responsible for the decoration on the porcelain models, including the present lot. He worked at the factory for around seven years between 1746 and 1753, before moving to Fürstenberg.
Additional Notices & Disclaimers

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