Monkey
Meissen Porcelain Factory
Category
Ceramics
Date
1755
Materials
ceramic
Measurements
177 mm (H)
Place of origin
Meissen
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1245667
Caption
Bewigged monkeys cavorting in courtly attire may be kitsch by today’s standards, but they were all the rage with 18th-century French aristocrats. ‘Singerie’ – the French word for the depiction of monkeys in anthropomorphic scenes – peaked in the work of the Christophe Huet. His decorations for the Château de Chantilly of monkeys hunting, sledging and tight-rope walking are a supreme achievement of this whimsical Rococo genre. Inspired by Huet’s work, Johann Joachim Kändler – the most celebrated modeller at Germany’s Meissen porcelain factory – designed a full orchestra of simian musicians and this ceramic figure is one of them. The monkey orchestra became one of Meissen’s most celebrated designs. Despite being a supporter of and shareholder in the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Madame de Pompadour, the cultivated mistress of Louis XV, purchased a 19-piece Meissen monkey orchestra in 1753. Like many others she was clearly captivated by these fashionable figurines.
Summary
A Meissen figure of a monkey as conductor of an orchestra. Colours, puce and yellow. c.1755.
Provenance
The bequest of Margaret (Anderson) McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald - later Dame Margaret - Henry Fulke Greville, DBE (1863-1942) from probate records linked with the donation of the property to the National Trust in 1943. This item found on the record for Polesden Lacey porcelain stored in the Garden Room, page 84.
Makers and roles
Meissen Porcelain Factory, maker