The Catching of Cupid

Bock-Wallendorf porcelain factory. 1900-1920. Porcelain, on-glaze decoration

Underneath the statuette there are two crossed cobalt blue C-s and a crown – the sign of the Ludwigsburg porcelain manufactory. That is why Johannes Mikkel considered it to be a product of the renowned porcelain manufacturer from the end of the 18th century. But this particular composition has not been listed among the products of the Ludwigsburg manufactory, therefore the sign beneath the statuette is fake.

A very similar model belonged to the Meissen porcelain manufactory. At the beginning of the 19th century, the chief executive artist of the manufactory, the sculptor Christian Gottfried Jüchtzer (1752-1812), modelled a pair of figurines inspired by the Antiquity: “The Catching of Cupid” and “Cupid in Trouble”.

“The Catching of Cupid” was probably made at the porcelain manufactory of Fasold and Stauch, known also as the Bock-Wallendorf manufactory due to its location in the small town of Bock-Wallendorf in Thuringia; the manufactory functioned from 1903 to 1972. Its production ranged from new-rococo figurines of women and children and pastoral scenes to ballerinas and dancers in the later period. At the beginning of the 20th century, many small factories, including Bock-Wallendorf, produced porcelain that imitated the output of famous old manufactories, and the signs on the originals were also copied.