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Meissen Figure of a Lady Cook


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This item is no longer available
Dates Circa 1750
Medium Porcelain
Origin Germany
Description A rare Meissen figure of the lady cook holding aloft a larded hare. Modelled by J.J. Kändler.

No mark.

16cm High, 10cm Wide and 9cm Deep.

Larding a hare: Small incisions were made all over and pieces of lard were inserted before cooking. The cook here holds aloft a hare that she has larded. On her wooden cutting board are a thin slitting knife and a block of lard.
Condition Her foot is reattached, and the end of the knife in her hand is restored, with a small graze to the front edge and base with some restoration. There also appears to be some paint on her green bodice, perhaps to cover typical flaking?
Literature Literature: Victoria Avery and Melissa Calaresu, Feast and Fast, The Art of Food in Europe, 1500–1800. Exhibition Catalogue, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2019, pp. 113–115, figs. 4.3, 4.4. An example figure ( C.8-1954) appeared in this exhibition with a good description of the process and some of the 18th century utensils needed to ‘lard’ a hare.