D2561. Polychrome Figure of a Boar

Delft, circa 1765

Marked with an axe in blue for De Porcelyene Byl (The Porcelain Axe) factory

The boar, naturalistically modeled with a striped brown hide, black hooves, and expressive eyes accentuated in iron-red, is seated before a blue stylized tree trunk, resting on a conformingly shaped base, with a blue edge bordered in yellow, on top a green, grassy surface.

DIMENSIONS
Height: 15.7 cm. (6.2 in.);
Width: 21.4 cm. (8.4 in.)

PROVENANCE
Belgian Private Collection, in the same ownership for over 30 years

NOTE
In Christian culture, the pig or boar is traditionally regarded as a symbol of vice. It may also serve as an allegory for the synagogue, as stated in Lucia Impelluso, Nature and its symbols, 2004, p. 267. The particular seated boar presented here is inspired by Il Porcellino, the famous bronze fountain in Florence. The original sculpture was created by Pietro Tacca (1577–1640) in 1612. In 1857, the original was replaced by a copy, and the original was subsequently added to the collection of the Bardini Museum in Florence. Tacca’s work itself was modeled after an Italian replica of an ancient Greek marble sculpture depicting the Calydonian Boar. This legendary creature, central to Greek mythology, was hunted by Atalanta and Meleager, as recounted in Ovid’s M e t a m o r p h o s e s (Book 8).

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