Lot 230: A PAIR OF RECTANGULAR CARVED WOOD RELIEFS DEPICTING COWS

BY JOHANN HEINRICH MEISSNER (BORN KÖNIGSBERG 1700, DIED DANZIG 1777),
Each on a naturalistic carved background, and in later gold-painted frames; one signed in ink to the reverse 'Meisner. f', the other signed in ink 'Meissner. Bildhauer zu Danzig 1751.'
11 cm. x 14.5 cm.; 17.4 cm. x 21 cm. the frames (2)

Both carvings are after etchings by Paulus Potter (1625-1654), published in the Bullenboekje in 1650. This publication comprises eight etchings of cattle, the fifth titled Koe met kromme hoorn and the sixth Pissende koe
A. Walsh, E. Buijsen, B. Broos, Paulus Potter, Paintings, drawings and etchings, The Hague/Zwolle, 1994, pp. 190-193.
Although Meissner's large sculptural work, such as the monuments to Frederick William I, King of Prussia and Augustus III, King of Poland (destroyed 1945), and his church decoration, for example the pulpit in the church of St Mary, Gdansk, are less favourably held, his small sculptures earned him the reputation of being one of the most important carvers working in the Rococo style in north-east Germany in the first half of the 18th century. Among these works are statues of children, mythological scenes and female nudes. Inspiration from earlier examples was typical of Meissner, who had studied these works in local collections and had a tendency to be eclectic; this also makes it more difficult to establish the chronology of his small sculptures.

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