Limited Edition Gravy boat with Fish-Head

Banqueting tables lavishly adorned with pâté de foie gras, juicy suckling pork, crisply roasted cheek of veal, luscious gâteaux and desserts and finest wines: Elector-Prince Augustus the Strong was famed for the rousing parties he threw at his palace in Dresden and which were attended by the rich, beautiful and aristocratic. Once the "white gold" had been invented and the Meissen Manufactory established in 1710, the courtly banqueting tradition also found its way into the modelling of porcelain. As a result, along with opulently decorated tableware services, showpiece dishes and tureens also soon played a starring role on Saxony's court dining tables.

The present fish-head sauciere has likewise more than earned a place there. Its imaginative spreading shape dates back to 1814 and has been patterned in a deliberately vigorous and overstated manner for the 2021 Limited Edition series. Its gleaming blue is suggestive of the water in which our zany fantasy being resides. Precious items in porcelain were already a source of added prestige in Augustus's own day - and this little sauciere proves itself to be marvellously well-suited to the role.