- Museum number
- 1948,1203.24
- Title
- Object: Le Baiser Rendu
- Description
-
Figure; soft-paste biscuit porcelain; hollow base; man seated, his left leg under his right which projects beyond the oval 'rocky' base; leaning against him with her body twisted and resting on her left elbow, the young girl kisses the left of his chin; under her elbow is a bagpipe, one of the pipes of which she holds suggestively in her left hand; her right hand supports the young man's head; he wears a broad-brimmed hat, shirt, jacket and breeches; her low-cut dress has a full skirt and flowing sleeves; no marks.
- Production date
-
1765 (modelled)
-
1765-1786 (made circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 18.40 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Dawson 1994
Pair with 1948,1203.23.
Comparable Examples:
1) Exhibition, ‘La porcelaine française de 1673 à 1914, la porcelaine contemoraine de Limoges’, Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, November-December 1929, no. 839, from the Fenaille Collection, sold Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 12 June 1941, Lot 4; (with Le Baiser Donne').
2) Birioukova, Nina, ‘Figurines et Groupes en Porcelaine des Manufactures Françaises du XVIIIe siècle’, Leningrad, 1962, fig. 40, Musée national de Céramique, Sèvres.¹
3) Christie's, New York, The Elizabeth Parke Firestone Collection, Part I, 21-2 March 1990, Lot 143 (with pendant), formerly Fenaille Collection, incised ‘F’.
Modelled by Etienne-Maurice Falconet in 1765 - see its pair reg. no. 1948,1203.23.
Although based on the same source as 1948,1203.23, this group can be traced back to a ‘conte’ by J. de La Fontaine published in 1762 and entitled 'Le Baiser Rendu’.² A painting attributed to J.-B.-J. Pater of this subject is in the Musée Cognac-Jay, Paris. An eighteenth-century plaster mould comprising six pieces survives at the factory.⁴ A terracotta maquette was in the Derys Collection in 1922.⁵ The sculptors Mignan and Levaux were each paid 36 livres, the price of work on two and three examples respectively of the group in July 1765. In the following month Leclere received 18 livres “Avoir remonté la terre du Baiser rendu” and 36 livres “Avoir reparé le plâtre dudit”.⁶
The first 'sale' was an example presented to Monsieur Bertin at the end of 1765 and valued at 144 livres.⁷ The group is still in production, but was not reissued after 1786 until late this century.⁸
The subject was also treated at Höchst, with its companion group, in two different versions,⁹ and at Frankenthal.¹⁰
1. A hard-paste example from this museum is illustrated by Bourgeois, Emile, ‘Le Biscuit de Sèvres au XVIIIe Siècle’, Paris, 1909, Vol. 2, fig. 23, where it is said to be after Boucher. However, no evidence has been found for this statement.
2. J. de La Fontaine, ‘Contes et Nouvelles en Vers’, Amsterdam, 1767 (this is a ‘contrefaçon’ of the Paris, 1762, edition), p. 190.
3. E. Jonas, ‘Collections léguées à la Ville de Paris par Ernest Cognacq, Catalogue’, Paris, 1930, no. 90.
4. The writer is grateful to Tamara Préaud for information about the number of pieces making up this mould.
5. L. Réau, ‘Etienne-Maurice Falconet’, Paris, 1922, Tome II, p. 509.
6. MNS, Archives de Sèvres, F8, ‘Travaux extraordinaires’.
7. MNS, Archives de Sèvres, Vy 4, f. 68v.
8. The writer is grateful to Tamara Préaud for this information.
9. K. Röder, ‘Das Höchster Porzellan aufder Jahrtausend Ausstellung in Mainz, 1925’, Mainz, 1930, Tafel 25, a-d, nos. 147- 50; the date 1755 given for these groups must be inaccurate.
10. E. Heuser, ‘Porzellan von Strassburg und Frankenthal’, Neustadt anderHaart, 1922, p. 277; “Der gegebene Kuss, drei Figuren” and “Der widergegebene Kuss, drei Figuren” are both listed, according to Heuser, in the 1798/99 ‘Formenverzeichnis’ of the Frankenthal factory.
Literature: King, 1951-2, p. 80; Savage, George, ‘Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century French Porcelain’, London, 1960, pl. 72b.
Bibliography: Bourgeois, Emile and Lechevallier-Chevignard, Georges, ‘Le Biscuit de Sèvres – recuil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIII (18) siècles’, Paris, n.d. (1913), pl. 8, no. 95.
-
Another example sold at Christie's Paris, 24 June 2003, lot 502 (estimate £4,300-£5,600), private collection; for a further example belonging to The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor, see exh. cat. 'Falconet à Sèvres 1757-1766, ou l'art de plaire', Paris, 2001, p. 136, n. 69.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2015 4 Nov-2016 28 Mar, Frankfurt am Main, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung - Stadtische Galerie Liebieghaus, Dangerous Liaisons
- Condition
- Hat and pipe at front chipped; foot restored.
The gilr's instrument was identified by Frances Tucker in July. It was formerly described as a flute.
- Associated titles
-
Associated Title: Le Baiser Rendu
-
Associated Title: The Kiss Received
- Acquisition date
- 1948
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1948,1203.24