DATED 1741 TO HIS BRACES

Joseph Fröhlich (1694-1757) was from Austria, and from 1725 he was a juggler in the Court of the Margrave of Bayreuth. On the recommendation of the Margrave's sister, Electress Eberhardine, who was the wife of King Augustus II 'the Strong', Fröhlich moved to Dresden where he served as Court Jester to the King. In Dresden he was the Electoral and Royal Court juggler, adviser kurzweiliger Rat, magician and jester and from 1744 onwards he was the Royal Polish Mühlenkommisar. After Augustus the Strong's death he continued in his duties for Augustus III, and even moved to Warsaw with the King at the start of the Seven Years' War. He was highly esteemed at court and his popularity was such that he was depicted not only in several Meissen figures and groups, but also in a variety of other materials. Fröhlich is always shown in his Tyrolean dress of the Viennese fool, sometimes together with his colleague 'Baron' Schmiedel.

A figure of Fröhlich first appears in the Porzellan-waren-Lager on 7 March 1733 described as 'Für den Königl. Printzen von Pohlen and Littauen und Cour-Fürstl. Durchl. zu Sachsen..' '..1. Josephs Figur'.¹ Later, in September 1736, the figure appears in Kändler's Arbeitsbericht as Eine Josephs Figur in Thon geändert und Verpeßert, damit solche aufs Neue hat können abgeformet werden (A figure of Joseph in clay, altered and improved so it could be modelled again).² The model appears to be based on the engraving 'Joseph Frölig Hof=taschen spieler' of 1729 by Christian Friedrich Boetius. The inscribed dates on his braces range between 1733 and 1758, the year after his death.

Examples of the figures vary slightly. For a similar example of this model, see Yvonne Hackenbroch, Meissen and other Continental Porcelain Faience and Enamel in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, London, 1956, pl. 45, fig. 100, and for a further discussion of the model, see Ulrich Pietsch Die figürliche Meissner Porzellanplastik von Gottlieb Kirchner und Johann Joachim Kaendler, Munich, 2006, pp. 11-13, nos. 4 and 5.

Another example of this model from the Patricia Hart Collection was sold by Christie's, London, on the 5 July 2012, lot 35. Another was sold Christie's London, 16 December 2021, lot 113.

1. Ingelore Menzhausen, In Porzellan verzaubert, Die Figuren Johann Joachim Kändlers in Meissen aus der Sammlung Pauls-Eisenbeiss Basel, Basel, 1993, p. 85.
2. Ingelore Menzhausen, ibid., 1993, p. 85.