A Meissen Figure of a Miner, Circa 1750 | Eine Meissen Figur eines Bergmanns, um 1750

modelled by Johann Joachim Kändler and Peter Reinicke, standing with an axe over his right shoulder, wearing a black shirt with gilt buttons and a black cap with crossed picks and a turquoise bow, the rockwork base applied with flowers and leaves, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue to rear of base

Height 7 3/4 in.

19.8 cm.

Literature
Horst Reber, Eine Rheinische Porzellan-Sammlung, Darmstadt, 2006, vol. I, p. 162

Catalogue note
The present figure is from a series of figures of miners created at Meissen between 1748 and 1750, based on Christoph Weigel's engravings for Abbildung und Beschreibung derer sämtlichen Berg-Werks-Beamten und Bedienten nach ihrem gewöhnlichen Rang und Ordnung im behörigen Berg-Habit, published in Nuremberg in 1721. The two volumes depict the costume, uniform and tools of mining and metal-working, often against a background of furnaces and machinery. Saxon miners enjoyed high status compared to other labouring communities, mining silver, lead, copper, cobalt, and bismuth from the mountains in the south-west of the Saxon state. Miners wearing ceremonial garments were often part of the parades at court festivals held to celebrate anniversaries, betrothals, and weddings in the European court calendar, including the spectacular Saturn Fest, held in 1719 on the occasion of the marriage of Augustus II Elector of Saxony's son, the electoral prince Friedrich Augustus, to Princess Maria Josepha of Austria, the daughter of the Emperor Joseph I (see See Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly, Court Culture in Dresden: From Renaissance to Baroque, London, 2002). The present lot represents a miner wearing his parade livery, on his hat, the emblem of crossed mining picks. For a detailed discussion of this series of figures see Rainer Slotta, Gerhard Lehmann and Ulrich Pietsch, Ein fein bergmannig Porcelan, Abbilder vom Bergbau in 'weißem Gold', exh. cat., Porzellansammlung im Zwinger, Dresden, and Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum, 1999. Another example of this figure from the Hans C. Syz collection is in the Smithsonian, Washington (museum no. CE.65.387).

Cranfield University used non-invasive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for this lot to screen the green enamel for chromium, which was not detected, a result consistent with 18th century manufacture.
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