Both seated on square masonry bases, the male cook holding a smoke-cured leg of meat or ham and a pan with a knife tucked into his apron, the lady holding a larded hare and a chopping board with a larding needle and block of lard.

Because these figures are elegantly dressed, he with a powdered wig and she wearing a string of pearls, they have sometimes been considered to be nobles in disguise. However, Vanessa Sigalas points out that it was quite normal for superior cooks to be well attired demonstrating this with a painting of a similarly dressed lady cook.[1] French chefs were much prized in German courts and were held in high regard, so these models are likely to represent admired court chefs.

The female chef has carefully cut strips of lard which she has threaded into the flesh of the hare using a larding needle. This was a popular, if time consuming way of preparing lean meat, particularly game, which added flavour and kept it moist and tender.

‘Les apprêts du Banquet’ with elaborately larded roast meats,
Anonymous, French school, circa 1630
Musée des Arts décoratifs, Strasbourg, (inv.. MBA 1700)

Pairs of these figures are rather rare, similar examples are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, from the Lord and Lady Fisher collection[2] and in the Alan Shimmerman Collection.[3] (V. Sigalas/M. Chilton (eds.), All Walks of Life, 2022, nos. 44 and 45). An example of the female chef from the Gustav von Klemperer collection is in Dresden.[4]

Condition:
The man: thumb of right hand restored
The woman: handle of board and knife, right shoe, tip of bonnet restored

Provenance:
Sir Bernard Eckstein, Bt., sold at Sotheby’s London, 10 May 1949, lot 182
With the Antique Porcelain Company, London
The Estate of the Late Sir Henry Tate, Bt., sold at Christie’s London, 6 March 1995, lot 175
The Merkle Collection

References:

Pietsch 2006
Ulrich Pietsch & Daniela Antonin, Die Figuerliche Meissner Porzellanplastik Von Gottlieb Kirchner Und Johann Joachim Kaendler: Bestandskatalog der Porzellansummlung Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, (Munich 2006) p. 40, no. 45

Sigalas 2023
Vanessa Sigalas and Meredith Chilton (Ed.), All Walks of Life: A Journey with The Alan Shimmerman Collection: Meissen Porcelain Figures of the Eighteenth Century, (Arnoldsche 2023)

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[1] Sigalas, p. 195, fig 45.

[2] acc. nos. C.7-1954 and C.8-1954.

[3] Sigalas nos. 44 & 45.

[4] Pietsch 2006, no. 45, were it was stated that no other examples were known.

Price: £15,500

[1] Sigalas, p. 195, fig 45.

[2] acc. nos. C.7-1954 and C.8-1954.

[3] Sigalas nos. 44 & 45.

[4] Pietsch 2006, no. 45, were it was stated that no other examples were known.