'Apollo and the Sun Chariot', Meissen style porcelain group

This fine porcelain group is after a celebrated Meissen original designed by Johann Joachim Kändler in 1772-1773 for the Russian Czarina Catherine the Great. The group portrays the Greek god Apollo, lord of the sun, attended by a putto while seated on a chariot pulled by four rearing horses. According to Greek mythology, each day Apollo would drive his chariot across the sky, ushering the Sun forward and thus giving light to the world below. Apollo, draped with a floral robe, evinces an expressive posture; a small, winged putto hands the Sun God two flowers. Apollo is seated on a superbly crafted parcel gilt chariot that is pulled by a quartet of horses. The entire group is supported on a tumultuous cloud base, through which flash rays of light.

The underside is marked with a spurious Meissen mark.