New Portico Gallery Opens with Selections of Meissen Porcelain from Henry H. Arnhold's Promised Gift and Two Sculptures by Houdon
December 13, 2011, through January 6, 2013
Japanese and Japanese-Inspired Ware
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Left: Dish, Japanese porcelain, c. 1700, The Arnhold Collection; Right: Fluted Dish, Meissen porcelain, c. 1729–30, The Arnhold Collection, photograph: Michael Bodycomb |
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August II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670–1733), was
afflicted by a legendary maladie de porcelain, or porcelain fever. By
1719 he had amassed more than twenty thousand Chinese and Japanese
porcelain objects showcased in his small pleasure palace on the Elbe,
the Japanisches Palais, or Japanese Palace. In 1729 the castle was
rebuilt and expanded to highlight specially commissioned Meissen
porcelain. Here the Saxon king's treasured Asian wares would have been
displayed side by side with Meissen wares as a celebration of the Royal
Porcelain Manufactory's accomplishments. This case makes apparent the
refinement achieved by the Meissen factory a mere twenty years after its
establishment, evident in the fluted dish (shown at right), which is displayed near
a rare Japanese prototype (shown at left). |
