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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 145

Figure

ca. 1732 (made), 1732 (modelled)
Artist/Maker
Meissen Porcelain Factory (manufacturer)
Kändler, Johann Joachim (modeller)
Place of origin
Meissen (made)

Augustus the Strong of Saxony (1670-1733) was a passionate collector of porcelain. He built his ‘Japanese Palace’ in the 1720s to house his vast collection of Far Eastern and Meissen porcelain. This goat is one of nearly 600 life-size animals and birds that he ordered from the Meissen factory for his porcelain menagerie, planned from 1730 onwards. In the event, technical problems and his death in 1733 led to the abandonment of the project before this number had been achieved.

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read Meissen's King Vulture This extraordinary porcelain King Vulture was made for one of the wealthiest monarchs and important patrons of the arts of his time – Augustus the Strong (1670 – 1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

Object details

Categories
Ceramics
Porcelain
Figures & Decorative Ceramics
Object type
Figure
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain
Hard Paste Porcelain
Glazed
Brief description
Porcelain figure of a goat, white, modelled by J.J. Kaendler, Meissen porcelain factory, Germany, about 1732
Physical description
Figure of a goat, of white glazed hard-paste porcelain. Reclining postion, its head turned sharply to right rear; double-curved horns; shaggy coat.
Dimensions
  • Length: 66cm
  • Height: 55.9cm
  • Weight: 25kg
Marks and inscriptions
'Z.' (2) (Incised, right front hoof bottom)
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Murray Bequest
Object history
From the porcelain menagerie commissioned for the 'Japanese Palace', Dresden, by Augustus the Strong (1694/7-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and subsequently in the Royal Saxon Collections, Dresden (sold Berlin, Lepke, 12 Oct 1920, lot 195).. In production 17 December 1732. Four examples of this model are now known, the others being in the Porcelain Collections in the Zwinger Palace, Dresden (2), and at Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Production
Attribution from the manuscript catalogue dates from about 1970 and was compiled by William Hutton of the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.
Subject depicted
Goats (Animals)
Summary
Augustus the Strong of Saxony (1670-1733) was a passionate collector of porcelain. He built his ‘Japanese Palace’ in the 1720s to house his vast collection of Far Eastern and Meissen porcelain. This goat is one of nearly 600 life-size animals and birds that he ordered from the Meissen factory for his porcelain menagerie, planned from 1730 onwards. In the event, technical problems and his death in 1733 led to the abandonment of the project before this number had been achieved.
Bibliographic references
  • Hildyard, Robin. European Ceramics. London : V&A Publications, 1999. 144 p., ill. ISBN 185177260X Also see Ceramics & Glass Object Information File.
  • Honey, W. B. Dresden china: an introduction to the study of Meissen porcelain. London: A. & C. Black, 1934, Pl. XXI (c), p. 85.
  • Samuel Wittwer, The Gallery of Meissen Animals: Augustus the Strong's Menagerie for the Japanese Palace in Dresden, 2006, passim and pp. 309-310.
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
C.111-1932

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Record createdNovember 27, 2002
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70966/figure-kändler-johann-joachim/
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