Limited Masterworks Element Vase Air

Fire, water, earth and air - the 18th-century aristocracy simply adored allegorical depictions of the elements. The Saxon prince-elector Frederick Augustus II, son of the legendary Augustus the Strong, commissioned Johann Joachim Kaendler to design a prestigious series of Four Elements vases in 1741. Six years later, in 1747, Meissen's master modeller began work on medium-sized and miniature versions of these showpiece receptacles. The Manufactory is now reissuing the latter series for the first time. Kaendler's sumptuously decorated masterpieces reflect his age's switch to designing porcelain in a European vein. Extravagant figurative embellishments transform the vessel into a sculpture with a finely detailed silhouette that appears to be in flux.
Our craft specialists were faced with several technical challenges here. For the Air vase, for example, 60 different parts had to be joined together, the windmill wheel incorporated and the bellows fitted properly. The Water vase consists of 54 different parts and fitting and attaching the meticulously detailed, net-like fish trap in particular requires a great deal of dexterity. Added to this was the difficulty of how to proceed with the openwork detail - when is the right time to make the perforations, when do the other decorative features need to be attached and how is the repairer to ensure the stability of the small vessel? A work of European porcelain art with a long history has been recreated here, the first version of which can be admired in the Great Orangery at Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.