Collection of 18 Meissen figurines

A collection of eighteen early Meissen porcelain figures from the series "Cris de Paris" (also known as Parisian town-criers). The figures consist of gold-gilded rocaille pedestals, partially adorned with plastic flowers and leaves. Among them are town-criers with lanterns and schnapps bottles, grape and poultry merchants, lemon and lemonade sellers, a nobleman, a violinist, drummers, a farmer with a horn, a hunter with a dog and flintlock, a vegetable vendor, a female shopkeeper with a filled basket, a hurdy-gurdy player, a female town-crier with a triangle or scale. The polychrome painting is embellished with gold staffage. Created by either Peter Reinicke or Johann Joachim Kaendler, after 1753. Some are partially restored, with crossed swords marks, partly blurred. Height ranges from 14 cm to 15 cm. A rare collection of town-crier figures from the 18th century. The models are mainly based on the drawings by Christoph Huet, most likely commissioned by the Parisian merchant Jean Charles Huet. In a first series of town-criers, designed around 1745 by Peter Reinicke, based on engravings by Anne-Claude Philippe, Count of Caylus, after drawings by Edmé Bouchardon, the figures were formed in a size of approximately 19 cm to 23 cm. Some Meissen town-criers from the 18th century are represented in national and international museums, including the State Art Collections Dresden, the British Museum, and the V&A Museum London. See Reinheckel, Weltkunst, 62, No. 9, p. 161ff; Eberle, Cris de Paris; Catalogue State Porcelain Manufactory Meissen, Figures I, Parisian Town-Criers, p. 1ff. A collection of eighteen early Meissen porcelain figures of Parisian town-criers from the series "Cris de Paris". Partly incised model no. Partly restored. Crossed swords mark, partly blurred. Meissen. Circa 1755-1770.