AN exceptionally rare white Meissen monkey modeled around 1732 by Johann Joachim Kändler is a highlight at Sotheby’s in London on May 1. Depicted taking snuff, the monkey was commissioned by Augustus II, the Strong, Prince Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and displayed in his porcelain menagerie at the famous Japanese Palace in Dresden.
Estimated at £200,000-400,000 it is the highlight of the sale of the Meissen Collection of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie. Only two other examples are known – one in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the other in the Dresden State Art Collections.
The Meissen Collection of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie represents one of the most extensive groups of
18th century Meissen animals and birds ever to appear at auction. Comprising over 140 different
figures, almost all of which were created at Meissen during the 1730s and 1740s by the legendary
Johann Joachim Kändler, the collection was started in the 1930s by the Anglo-American heiress
Olive, Lady Baillie (grand-daughter of William Whitney), who bought many of the pieces for her
home, Leeds Castle in Kent and Lowndes House, London. She passed her love for Meissen on to
her son, Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt., who with his wife Margot, built it into one of the most extensive
Meissen menageries in private hands.
UPDATE: THE Meissen Monkey sold for £818,500. The Baillie Collection comprising around 140 works, made £4.03 million.