Bird Vendor

Art Historical Context

This charming hard-paste porcelain figure, created around 1773 at the Zurich Pottery and Porcelain Factory with modeling attributed to Johann Wilhelm Spengler, captures a bird vendor in mid-18th-century Swiss decorative art. Standing just 6½ inches tall, the small sculpture depicts a man accompanied by birds, reflecting the period’s taste for lively genre figures that brought everyday scenes into elegant interiors. Produced in Zurich’s short-lived but accomplished factory, it exemplifies the European mastery of hard-paste porcelain, a durable material prized for its fine translucency and abili...