VINCENNES Lot n° 10

Large statuette representing a yapping dog leaning on its front legs, half-open mouth sticking out its tongue, hindquarters and tail raised. It rests on a rectangular base in the imitation of a rocky mound. The unglazed reverse reveals the soft paste. 18th century. Circa 1750-1752. Length : 19 cm - Height : 15 cm Provenance : Maison VANDERMEERSCH, Paris. In the 18th century, the dog remained a hunting companion, but also became an element of private life, a symbol of loyalty and friendship. Repeatedly depicted in paintings by OUDRY, HUET and BOUCHER, dogs were also one of the favorite subjects of Vincennes sculptors. The taste for animal statuary in Vincennes developed as early as the 1750s, mainly influenced by Meissen's production of the 1740s. According to furnace records, dog figures first appeared in Vincennes around 1748. The Vincennes factory's inventory of sales dated October 1, 1752 mentions no less than two hundred and fifty-nine dog figurines in stock. Two breeds are named: mastiffs, in three sizes, painted and white, numbering eighty-four, and barbets, numbering four. The other canine statuettes are described only as small dogs, painted (one hundred and fifty-one) and white (seventeen), and Madame de BELFOND's dogs, painted (four) and white (one), which sometimes makes identification difficult. This model is unpublished, and its plaster prototype does not appear to have survived. However, the strong resemblance to the dogs depicted in Jean-Baptiste OUDRY's work, the firing defects and the quality of the paste, all point to this statuette being one of the four barbets mentioned in the 1752 inventory. The Musée de Sèvres holds a smaller plaster example of a different barbet (Sèvres, Manufacture et Musées Nationaux, inv. Casier304), dated circa 1749-1750 and reproduced by Émile BOURGEOIS in his 1913 work Le Biscuit de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle (Plate 4, no. 98). Other dog models were produced in Vincennes around the same period. The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge preserves a painted statuette of a small dog on a rectangular mound, which could be likened to one of Madame de BELFOND's dogs. Several white enamelled versions of this model exist (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, inv. D.16-1983; Christie's sale, London, March 28, 1983, lot no. 23). Spaniel models are also known. Other dog variants are known thanks to the plaster models preserved at Sèvres and reproduced by Emile BOURGEOIS.