European school, early 20th century.

European school, early 20th century.
"Children and lambs".
Glazed white porcelain.
Measurements: 25 x 36 x 10 cm.

The object corresponds to a sculptural group in white porcelain representing a pastoral scene starring children with idealized features, some of them winged, interacting with sheep in a bucolic environment. One of the characters plays a flute, reinforcing the idyllic and musical iconography associated with idealized country life. The composition, balanced and dynamic, is developed on an integrated oval base, richly modeled, with vegetal and ornamental details that unify the whole.

From the stylistic point of view, the work is clearly inscribed within the neo-rococo, a decorative current that recovers the models of the European rococo of the 18th century. The original rococo emerged in France around 1720 and spread rapidly through the main European courts, characterized by gallant, pastoral and mythological scenes, as well as by the representation of putti, musicians and idealized landscapes. During the 19th century and, with particular intensity, in the second half of the 20th century, this formal language was taken up again by various porcelain manufactures for decorative purposes, adapting it to bourgeois and domestic tastes.

As for its historical and productive context, this type of sculptural groups was widely produced in Western Europe, especially in Italy (Capodimonte area and northern industrial centers) and Germany, where there was a long porcelain tradition inherited from Meissen. These manufactures, often of a semi-industrial character, combined the use of serial molds with careful hand finishing, resulting in pieces of good technical quality and remarkable decorative effect, destined for both the domestic and export markets.

Due to the characteristics of the modeling, the absence of polychromy and the type of glossy white glaze, the piece can be chronologically placed in the second half of the twentieth century, approximately between 1950 and 1980. The concrete attribution to a specific manufacture is pending the observation of stamps, marks or numbering on the base, a key element to confirm its exact place of production.

The state of conservation, according to the image provided, is good to very good, with no visible damage to the most delicate elements such as wings, fingers, faces or musical instruments. This aspect is especially relevant in sculptural groups of this type, given their fragility and formal complexity.