Probably modelled after the original by P. Reinicke, with an embracing couple deep in conversation while being driven in a sleigh drawn by a horse, the couple and the driver in front of them all wearing fur-edged hats, the white horse with brown markings, on a shaped rectangular white mound base modelled to resemble snow
Approximately 12¹⁄₂ in. (31.7 cm.) wide

Anonymous sale; Christie’s, Rome, 24 May 1972, lot 234.

Len and Yvonne Adams, Meissen Portrait Figures, London, 1987, p. 143.
Melitta Kunze-Köllensperger, Collection Franz E. Burda, Meissen, Augsburg, 1997, p. 114, no. 40.

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Lot Essay

The ‘Russian Peasants’, or the ‘St. Petersburg Criers’, were not created as a serial group in quite the way that the Cris de Paris series was, but the group has a consistent theme, and it is thought that they were modelled by the same modeller over a relatively short period of time. The majority of scholars agree that Peter Reinicke (1711-1768) was the modeller, and it is possible that this group is based upon an original model of the 1750s,¹which may perhaps have been part of the ‘Russian Peasants’ or the ‘St. Petersburg Criers’ group. In 1759 a Parisian marchand-mercier Edme Choudard-Desforges had Russian figures of this type as his inventory of that year records ‘Russian figures with characters referring to the Paris Criers’.²It was previously thought that the prints by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (a student of François Boucher) were the source for the group,³but Le Prince didn’t visit Russia until 1758, and he didn’t return to France until 1763, so they cannot have been the source.

1. A similar group is illustrated by Hermann Schmitz, Ole Olsens Art Collections, Munich, no. 1413 and a group without a horse in the same collection, no. 303.. For a summary of the ‘Russian Peasants’, or the ‘St. Petersburg Criers’, see Vanessa Sigalas and Meredith Chilton, All Walks of Life, A Journey with The Alan Shimmerman Collection, Meissen Porcelain Figures of the Eighteenth Century, Stuttgart, 2022, p. 311.
2. Sigalas and Chilton, ibid., 2022, p. 311.
3. ‘Divers Ajustements et usages de Russie. – dediés à Monsieur Boucher, Peintre du Roy, Recteur en son Académie royale de peinture et sculpture et surinspecteur de la Fabrique des Gobelins… Dessinés en Russie d’après nature et graves à l’eau forte par J.B. le Prince’. His prints were published in several editions, with the first edition printed in 1764.

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Condition report

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The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.

This very rare group presents well, but there are condition faults, which are listed in more detail below.

The group appears to have been broken through, although it is difficult to be sure exactly where the breaks run, and these have been restored, and some clear lacquer has been used. Ultra violet light does not illuminate anything with precision. It appears that the sleigh has been broken through and restored, as there is some lacquer to it. The driver’s left hand and the hem of his jacket on his left side have been restored, and on the same side of the group, the man in green’s left leg and left arm have probably been restuck – suggesting that a break runs through this side of the sleigh somewhere.

Further clues are illuminated by the 1987 illustration of it in Len and Yvonne Adam’s book. The horse’s forelegs have clearly been restored since then. The 1987 illustration also shows areas of the base which are slightly darker, suggesting there are two principal breaks to the base – one area is to the base underneath the man in green’s left foot (to the left of the crossed swords mark – a break here would mean that the sleigh is broken through – as discussed above), and the other runs from the right side of the mound support under the horse to the edge of the base. The forelegs in the 1987 image have evidence of old restoration in poor repair, but in the illustration, the horse appears to be unscathed. So presumably the horse end of the base is broken through and the horse came off, but the horse may not have been broken (except the legs). There are areas of clear lacquer to the horse – but it is possible that the restorer has covered a much larger area than is necessary. In addition, the horse’s reins are lacking.

An XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) test was carried out by The Centre for Archaeological and Forensic Analysis at Cranfield University, confirming that the enamels on this object are consistent with the published data for enamels on other Meissen porcelain dating from the 19th Century.

Print Report