Limited Masterworks Orang-Utan Böttger Stoneware

It is now a good hundred years since the tradition of designing naturalistic animal statuary for which Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706-1775) became famous was revived at MEISSEN. Erich Hösel (1869-1953), one of the most gifted sculptors of his generation and, from 1912 to 1929, head of the MEISSEN Design Department, addressed himself to Kaendler's legacy with honour. He created over a hundred figurine models between 1904 and 1918, including the ape that latter-day artist Maximilian Hagstotz has now remodelled as a slightly larger version in Böttger Stoneware^®.The ape sits there resting its outsized head on its arms and appears to be meditating. It is an orang-utan, which in the Malay language means "forest person". And these primates certainly do appear to possess human faculties. If they can manage to learn a symbol-based language and to communicate with its aid, then they ought also to be capable of thought. We will never be able to fathom what it is this ape is pondering; going by its body language and facial gestures, though, it seems to be something important. Such expressiveness ensures that the appeal of naturalistic animal statuary is undiminished even today. Our orang-utan has earned itself a prominent place in the great sanctuary of Meissen animal figures.