STRASBOURG - Lot 446

STRASBOURG Covered earthenware turtle-shaped tureen with polychrome au naturel decoration, the shell in brown and ochre topped by a snail forming the lid. Manufacture of Paul Hannong. 18th century, circa 1745-1754. L.: 27 cm, H.: 14 cm. Chips on the snail's tentacles. A large service in Strasbourg earthenware was delivered to Prince Elector Clemens August at Clemenswerth Castle in 1751, including a large number of terrines in the shape of zoomorphs or fruits, vegetables or flowers. An inventory drawn up in 1761 after Clemens August's death mentions four turtles among the pheasants, geese, ducks, pigeons, partridges, woodcocks, wild boar, turkey, capercaillie and cauliflowers. In a photograph of the Clemenswerth kitchens taken in the early 20th century, the four turtles are still present. (Jacques Bastian, Strasbourg, faiences et porcelaines, 1721-1784, tome I, fig. n° 21, pp. 36-37) ` Other zoomorphic earthenware terrines by Paul Hannong were delivered to Château de la Favorite in Rastatt, Baden-Würtenburg, Germany, built for Margravine Sibylla Augusta von Baden-Baden (1675-1733). Some of these terrines are still preserved there. A turtle-shaped terrine of the same model is in the Musée de l'Ariana in Geneva and reproduced by Jacques Bastian, Strasbourg, faiences et porcelaines, 1721-1784, tome I, fig. n° 36, p. 50. Two others were in the collections of The Antique Porcelain Company and reproduced in the Coronation Exhibition catalog, 1953, pp. 76-77. For variants of this model, see the example in the Ludwig collection with folded back legs, reproduced in Ludwigs Lust, Die Sammlung Irene und Peter Ludwig, Munich, 1993, no. 209, the example in the Musée des Arts décoratifs de Strasbourg, L'oeuvre des Hannong. Faïences de Strasbourg et Haguenau. Musée des arts décoratifs, Strasbourg, 1975, no. 135, see also Ludmann, J.-D., Strasbourg - Faïences et porcelaines de l'Est, Paris, 1973, p. 52 and Jahrbuch der staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württemberg, 1965, p. 309.