The Kiss, Biscuit Niderviller, Count Of Custine, Circa 1780

Bust known as “The Kiss”
Biscuit, glazed hard porcelain, painted and enhanced with gilding
Cobalt blue mark from the Custine period underglaze
Dimensions: H. 24 (cm.)
Niderviller, circa 1780

Rare model of The Kiss, after Jean-Antoine Houdon, in biscuit porcelain, by the Niderviller porcelain factory. It rests on a column base with footed legs. Striking faux marble decoration and gilded edging. Niderviller and “biscuits” It was through the purchase of the molds of the talented Cyfflé that this factory in eastern France shifted its production to monochrome pieces, made either from a very fine white paste, very similar to porcelain, and more simply, hard porcelain through the purchase of a kaolin quarry near Limoges in 1778. These pieces paint a panorama of late 18th-century sculpture: Salon models and groups, statuettes, but also popular or gallant genre scenes, busts, medals, and portraits. The whiteness of the material gives them the appearance of marble, which has made them extremely popular.

Condition report: very slight signs of wear from use.