white, glazed, circular body, smooth pedestal, lower part with semi-sculptural laurel wreath and crossed bands, strips with bands, frieze of oval shapes and leaf rosettes terminating in circles with trompe l’oeil knobs, interspersed with oval rims, meander band, recessed central part with floral and foliate garlands hanging from hooks, upper part with row of cabochons and laurel wreath with crossed bands, conical element with fluting, to smooth band 3 portraits framed and linked together with laurel festoons, surmounted by bows, to the obverse a hero with an amused smile adorned with a laurel wreath, below which floral festoons, to the sides portraits of a smiling lady and a pensive gentleman, both encompassed by leaves in a similar fashion to Narrenschmuck, surmounted by a vase with laurel festoons on a laurel wreath, wrought iron base frame with rams’ feet, neck wall, to the reverse firebox, fired by back-loading method, total height 371 cm, brass base height 30 cm, lower part height 113 cm, width 110 cm, depth 140 cm with back-loading box, central part with row of cabochon height 52 cm, fluted part height 108 cm, top part with vase height 68 cm, very good condition, Vienna, circa 1770 (Ru)

Provenance: Viennese private ownership;

the mask-like portraits are reminiscent of the ‘character heads’ by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Wiesensteig 1736-1783 Preßburg, German sculptor.

Lit.: Thieme-Becker, vol. XXIV, 1752 studied at the Viennese Academy, pupil of Matthäus Donner, supported financially by court painter Martin v. Mijtens, in 1757 appointed to a post as ‘Stuckverschneider’ [chaser of cast cannons] at the Zeughaus in Vienna, in 1765 stay in Rome, where he studied the antique, travelled to London, in 1765 return to Vienna, in 1769 appointment at the Academy as sculptor with titular professorial role, in 1775 appointed court sculptor at the court in Munich. He produced 69 heads, of which 49 were completed, executed in various materials, there are 16 heads at the Upper Belvedere, Vienna, and a cast series of 45 heads in the ownership of the Princes of Liechtenstein;