Paris – The first part of one of the finest collections of 18th-century Meissen porcelain sculpture still in private hands was offered yesterday (17 April 2024) at Bonhams in Paris. Started fifty years ago by Hadrian Merkle (1942-2018), a German businessman and extraordinary and passionate private collector, the 55-lot sale made €948,450, smashing its pre-sale high estimate of €594,800.

Sebastian Kuhn, Bonhams Head of Continental Ceramics, said: "We are delighted with the results of the sale. This exciting collection included some of the rarest and finest examples of late-Baroque small-scale sculpture and offered a tantalizing and unique glimpse of the world seen through 18th-century eyes. After fierce bidding in the room, on the telephones, and online, many of the works sold for well above their estimates, demonstrating Mr Merkle's extraordinary eye for Meissen porcelain."

Leading the sale was a very rare Meissen group of lovers with a birdcage, which made €171,850, more than four times its low estimate. This work was first mentioned in J.J. Kaendler's (1706-1775) work records in March 1741. Meanwhile, a rare Meissen crinoline figure of a lady, circa 1737 made €127,400, more than six times its low estimate. Also modelled by Kaendler, the statuette was formerly in the collection of Mrs Charles E. Dunlap. The figure is first mentioned in Kaendler's work records in December 1736, and is today considered one of the rarest and most beautiful of his early sculptures.

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 but were also 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 - a student of the Dresden court sculptor Benjamin Thomae (himself a student of Permoser) – 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; tradesmen; allegorical figures; street criers; all the nationalities of the world from Europe and the Balkans to Turkey, Asia and Africa; to pastoral figures, villagers, and even beggars. His figures and groups are masterpieces of late-Baroque and Rococo sculpture.

Other highlights of the 55-lot sale include:

• A rare Meissen group of Pantalone and Columbine, circa 1738 sold for €82,950 against a pre-sale estimate of €40,000-60,000.

• A rare Meissen masonic crinoline group of lovers, circa 1745 sold for €75,330 against a pre-sale estimate of €40,000-60,000. Modelled by J.J. Kaendler, this group was formerly owned by the renowned Swiss collector, Paul Schnyder von Wartensee.

• A rare large Meissen vase, circa 1730 painted in Kakiemon style sold for €61,360 against a pre-sale estimate of €20,000-30,000. This vase was from the collection of Heinrich Graf von Brühl (1700-1763), the powerful Prime Minister of Saxony and Director of the Meissen manufactory.

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.

Building on the success of part one of The Merkle Collection, the next instalment will take place on 31 October 2024 at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris, dedicated to the Commedia dell'Arte. Further auctions featuring works from the Merkle Collection will take place in Paris in Spring 2025.

18 April 2024