Centerpiece and Stand with Pair of Sugar Casters
Medium
Enameled and gilded hard-paste porcelain and gilt bronze
Dimensions
Bowl: 28.5 × 42.9 × 26.7 cm (11 3/16 × 16 7/8 × 10 1/2 in.); Stand: 15.3 × 66.1 × 51.5 cm (6 × 26 × 20 1/4 in.)
Classification
tableware
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
86395
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Typifying the splendor of the Saxon court at Dresden during the eighteenth century, this porcelain centerpiece would have been part of an elaborate dinner service that graced ceremonial court banquet tables. Remarkable for its large size and luxurious decoration, the service was designed for Count Heinrich von Brühl, who was both administrator of the Royal Saxon Porcelain Manufactory at Meissen and prime minister to Augustus III (r. 1733–63), elector of Saxony and king of Poland. The centerpiece...
About the Artist
Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
The Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, established on June 6, 1710, by Augustus II the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in the Albrechtsburg castle at Meissen near Dresden, marked Europe's breakthrough in producing true hard-paste porcelain. Building on experiments by physicist Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger, who perfected the formula using local...