Monkey band, bandleader

Kändler, Johann Joachim (1706-1775) (after a work of)

Reinicke, Peter (1715-1768) (after a work of)

Königlich Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur (Meißen) (founded 1710)

Item type:

decorative art

Date of creation:

ca. 1765

Height:

16.8 cm  (6 5/8 in.)

Technique / Medium:

Hard-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, gilding

Description

Manufacturer: Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, German, founded 1710, after a model of Kändler or Reinicke. This is one of a group of porcelain figures forming a monkey band, Art Institute of Chicago inv. nos. 1946.479 through 1946.494. Monkey band leader holding a rolled page of music (with visible notation) is conducting. Another porcelain figure is a music stand on which lies a music book with legible notation. Other figures in this group include monkey musicians playing bassoon, guitar, pipe and tabor, side drum (slung over the back of one monkey and beaten with two sticks by another), violin, flute, hurdy-gurdy, clarinet, cello, bagpipe, and folded trumpet. There are also female monkeys, probably singers, holding music books with visible notation.

Musical works

legible music notation

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Owens, Margareth Boyer. Art Institute of Chicago. RIdIM/RCMI inventory of music iconography, no. 2. Edited by Terence Ford (New York: Research Center for Musical Iconography, 1987) 236 da 84. RILM 1988-275.

RIdIM record id

1725