Meissen Style Continental Porcelain Monkey Band (7pcs)

Make: 

• 4 pieces - Scheibe (Alsbach Germany)
• 2 pieces - Possibly Capodimonte (Italy)
• 1 piece unknown

Age: Mid 20th Century

Construction: Porcelain

Dimensions:

• Leader  (7" Tall x 3 3/4" Wide x 3" Deep)
• Fife & Drum (5 1/2" Tall x 2 1/2" Wide)
• French Horn (5 7/8" Tall x 3 1/4" Long x 2 1/4" Wide)
• Trumpet (5 1/4" Tall x 3 1/2" Long x 2 1/4" Wide)
• Oboe (5 3/4" Tall x 2 1/8" Diameter)
• Recorder (5" Tall x 2 1/2" Long x 2 1/4" Wide) 
• Violin (5 1/2" Tall x 3" Long x 3 1/2" Wide)

Condition: Very good pre-owned vintage condition. The baton holding hand of the leader has been repaired/repainted, his other hand has been repainted as well to match. All other pieces are intact and free from chips or cracks. Please see photos.

Details:  A group of monkey musicians dressed in 18th century clothing. All except the fife & drum are dressed in pastel frock coats, patterned waistcoats, and pastel breeches with ruffled white shirts.  Fife & drum monkey wears a long patterned fitted shirt with scalloped short sleeves.  Each wears a different hat or wig. Each stands on a white porcelain round base with faux bois supports and gold-accented curved scroll decoration.  The bottoms of all are impressed with a series of numerals beginning with 4012, followed by a slash and a different number. Four are marked on bottom with a blue S superimposed over a wide X.  Two are marked on bottom with different N's under crowns.  One has a mark that has been partially removed.

The first version of the monkey band was designed in 1753 for the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in 1753 by chief modeler Johann Joachim Kandler.  It was so popular that it was reissued in the 1760s.  Originally comprising 19 characters, they were based on the drawings by Christophe Huet in the manner of his singeries, painted interiors featuring anthropomorphic monkeys in the Chateau of Chantilly and the Hotel de Rohan in Paris.