Blue Parrot

Meissener Porzellan Manufaktur, 1731

This parrot perches momentarily on a tree stump. It clutches a twig with cherries. The parrot is the same size as a real one, but ten times heavier. It is made entirely of porcelain. Porcelain is very hard fired clay and extremely difficult to make. It was even called ‘white gold.’ The maker deliberately didn’t colour the parrot all over. This way you can see the porcelain clearly.

  • Artwork typefigure
  • Object numberBK-17496
  • Dimensionsheight 82 cm x width 51 cm x depth 32.5 cm, height 69.5 cm, width 22.5 cm x depth 28 cm, 16.6 kg

Stories

Blue Macaw

1:23 min. - How was this first European porcelain made?

Blue Parrot

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Blue Parrot
    • Blue Macaw

  • Object type

  • Object number

    BK-17496

  • Description

    Figuur van beschilderd porselein. De figuur stelt een papegaai (ara) voor die op een boomstronk met bladeren zit. De papegaai heeft een blauw geschubde hals en kop en een wit lijf. De staart en de uiteinden van de vleugels zijn blauw, geel en wit geschilderd. Onder de rechterpoot ligt een tak met kersen. De figuur is niet gemerkt.

Creation

  • Creation

    • porcelain company: Meissener Porzellan Manufaktur, Meissen
    • porseleinmodelleur: attributed to Johann Joachim Kändler, Meissen
    • designer: Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, Meissen [rejected attribution]

  • Dating

    1731

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Dimensions

    • height 82 cm x width 51 cm x depth 32.5 cm
    • height 69.5 cm
    • width 22.5 cm x depth 28 cm
    • 16.6 kg

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; collection Johanneum, Dresden{Von Falke 1936, p. 282 no. Po.97.} …; collection Dr Fritz Mannheimer (1890-1939), Amsterdam and Paris, 1936;{Von Falke 1936, p. 282, no. Po.97.} purchased from his estate, en bloc, by the Dienststelle Mühlmann, The Hague, for Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum, Linz, 1940;{Korthals Altes 1974, pp. 21-22.} war recuperation, SNK, 1945;{HNA, SNK Archive, 2.08.42, inv. no. 548.} on loan, with 1,702 other objects, from the DRVK to the museum, 1952;{Note RMA.} transferred to the museum, 1960

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

    • G. Rosa, La Porcellana in Europa, Milan 1966, afb. 129.
    • A.L. den Blaauwen, Ara van Porselein, Meissen 1731, uit: Openbaar Kunstbezit, 7, 1963, pagina p. 23a-b
    • Noortje Krikhaar, Keramiek : Een porseleinen dierentuin, uit: Origine, 2016, 3, pagina pp. 50-55(zie: R:\Documentatie\Artikelen\Krikhaar_2016.pdf)
    • Rudi Fuchs, Kijken : Juwelen, uit: De Groene Amsterdammer, 2012-03-15, pagina p. 47

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  • Blue Parrot
  • Blue Parrot
  • Blue Parrot