PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF EDWARD AND KIYI PFLUEGER (LOTS 448-511) Meissen's Menagerie The following two extraordinary porcelain animals from the Pflueger Collection and the third which follows, this from a private central American source, are adapted from the series originally created in the early 1730s for Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Augustus was one of the wealthiest monarchs in Europe; his capital at Dresden was the greatest baroque city in northern Germany and his court rivalled that of Versailles for opulence and extravagance. Augustus' plans for the building of the Japanese Palace in Dresden were the most ambitious of all his projects. Underway by 1725, the new building incorporated a smaller royal palace, which had housed a porcelain collection; it was to be a Porzellanschloss, entirely constructed around and devoted to the porcelain collections. 1730 saw the development of the plans for the Great Gallery - the animal gallery - which was to be the first room in the enfilade entered on the first floor. It was to contain porcelain examples of both native and exotic specimens and even some mythical beasts. In the late 19th and 20th centuries Meissen reintroduced a few of these fantastic models in celebration of this grand tradition.

A MEISSEN PORCELAIN WHITE MODEL OF A TIGER (SITZENDE LÖWIN)

20TH CENTURY, AFTER THE MODEL BY J.G. KIRCHNER

Details

A MEISSEN PORCELAIN WHITE MODEL OF A TIGER (SITZENDE LÖWIN)
20th century, after the model by J.G. Kirchner
Modeled seated with a grimace, its tail curled over its right haunch
27½ in. (69.9 cm.) high

Lot Essay

See Samuel Wittwer, Die Galerie der Meissener Tiere, Die Menagerie Augusts des Starken für das Japanische Palais in Dresden, Düsseldorf, 2004, p. 118, pl. 117 for an illustration of an 18th century model now in the Porzellansammlung Dresden, and pp. 304-305 for detailed discussion of the 18th century model.

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