Two Meissen Porcelain Figures of Boys or Putto at Play, the larger, with two boys symbolic of the Sea, playing with a dragon form dolphin, and one blowing a conch horn, on a low mounded round base, and the second, a boy mischief maker with his foot in a bear trap, on a waisted cylindrical base. Painted in polychrome enamels and gilding. To the base undersides of each, underglaze blue crossed swords, the first incised 111 and impressed100, the second, incised L120 and impressed 110. various handwritten numerals.
{Approximate dimensions: Single cherub 7 3/4" high, pair with fish 7" high x 5 9/16" wide and deep.}.
Larger group with visible seam to front fin, both the left large toe of boy conch player and the right large toe of the dolphin holder broken off and professionally glued back on and overpainted. Loss to an item applied to base and overpainting to second figure. Wear and a series of small chips to base edge, with attendant loss to gilding.
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Property from the Collection of Frances and Ronald Dutro. San Francisco. Ronald Dutro was born in Oakland and began his lifelong opera career as a teenager with the San Francisco Opera. Frances Thanash was born in Fresno, and was a highly regarded singer in her own right. After Ronald Dutro won the American Opera Auditions in 1959, he made his European debut at La Scala, Milan, Italy. The Dutros ended up staying in Europe for twenty-five years, where Ron sang baritone roles. The last fifteen years of their Continental sojourn, the Dutros lived in Berlin, Germany. There, they entertained a large variety of singers, including David Bowie.
The Dutros returned to San Francisco in the 1980s, where they re-installed their notable Salon room, filled with Meissen and other Continental Porcelains, Art Nouveau and later cameo glass, and their large collection of artwork by German artist Richard Muller. Ron Dutro died in 2006; Frances died in 2020.
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