The Merkle Collection of Meissen Porcelain returns to Bonhams in Paris

Paris – The second part of one of the finest collections of 18th-century German porcelain sculpture still in private hands will be offered at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr on 31 October 2024 during Classics week in Paris. The sale is devoted to figures and groups depicting the Italian Comedy or commedia dell’arte: a form of improvised and sometimes subversive theatre that enjoyed great popularity in the courts of Northern Europe. Started fifty years ago by Hadrian Merkle (1942-2018), a German businessman with an extraordinary passion for porcelain, the collection includes some of the rarest and finest examples of late-Baroque small-scale sculpture and offers a tantalising and unique glimpse of the world seen through 18th-century eyes. Part I of the collection made €948,450, smashing its pre-sale high estimate of €594,800 on 17 April 2024.

The commedia dell’arte figures and groups from the Merkle Collection feature one of the rarest and finest examples of 18th-century porcelain sculpture: a Meissen group of Fighting Harlequins modelled by J.J. Kaendler, circa 1740 (estimate: €200,000-300,000). Only six other examples of this group are recorded, of which four are in museums, notably the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin.

Sebastian Kuhn - Bonhams Head of Continental Ceramics

“We are delighted and honoured to offer the second part of this extraordinary and important collection. Mr. Merkle’s goal as a collector was to show the incredible ambition of the Meissen factory as well as the genius of its master modeller, Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706-1775). Nowhere is this more evident than in his figures and groups depicting the commedia dell’arte.”

Porcelain figures and groups were an essential part of table culture at European courts in the 18th century. The discovery of the secret of hard-paste porcelain at Meissen around 1710 led to the replacement of sugar sculpture on the table with the finer and more durable material that could also be painted and gilded. The elaborate table sculptures were an expression of beauty and the grandeur of the court as well as an amusing and sophisticated tableau to stimulate conversation among the diners and a diversion from the sometimes-rigid court etiquette.

In 1731, the sculptor Johann Joachim Kaendler was appointed as a modeller at the Meissen factory. He perfectly understood the possibilities of the new material and created a magnificent and unique body of sculptural work. Kaendler’s skill was equal to the extraordinary ambition of the Meissen factory: to represent the entire world in porcelain. Over forty years, he depicted members of the court, actors from the Commedia dell’Arte, musicians or street criers. His figures and groups are masterpieces of late-Baroque and Rococo sculpture.

Other highlights of the 44-lot sale include

A very rare pair of Fürstenberg figures of Pantalone and Pantaloone, from the Commedia dell'Arte, circa 1753-54 modelled by Simon Feilner (estimate: €25,000-35,000). Another pair of figures of Pantalone and Pantaloone is in the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. A Meissen group of the Indiscreet Harlequin circa 1740-45, modelled by J.J. Kaendler (estimate: €40,000-60,000). It has been suggested that depiction of the lovers in this group may be based on engravings by Petrus Schenck after drawings by Gérard-Joseph Xavert, "Les Amours de Columbine," or an engraving of the painting "L'Automne" by Nicolas Lancret of around 1738. Another example of this group is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A Meissen figure of the frightened Harlequin, mid-18th century, modelled by J.J. Kaendler (estimate: €20,000-30,000).

Born in Nuremberg in Franconia, Hadrian Maria Oskar Merkle (1942-2018) was a successful businessman in the transport industry. Like many great collectors before him, art and culture were his buen retiro from the everyday world. He was a member of numerous museum associations as well as the Gesellschaft der Keramikfreunde (Keramos), the renowned society devoted to ceramics. Alongside his passion for porcelain, he was an opera lover and regularly attended the Mozartfestspiele in Würzburg and Salzburg. Alongside art and culture, Hadrian Merkle loved the pleasures of the table: he was a gourmet and an exceptional wine connoisseur. His children remember their childhood home filled with art and their father as an exceptional collector. He combined business acumen and an instinct for the unusual and outstanding with a great passion for Meissen porcelain and so formed one of the finest collections in the world.