Animals and animal sculptures have a very special tradition at MEISSEN. Even in the early days of the manufactory's history, numerous animal sculptures were created at the behest of Augustus the Strong himself for the Japanese palace, with which the world-famous Saxon Elector wanted to fulfil his dream of a porcelain palace. In addition to the modeller Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, the young court sculptor Johann Joachim Kaendler was hired especially for this task. With the large animal sculptures in particular, both were not only able to make a name for themselves, but also to open up the limits and possibilities of European hard porcelain, which had hardly been explored until then - and thus make a valuable contribution to the success and fame of MEISSEN in two respects.

Over the centuries, other highly talented modellers were to follow in the footsteps of Kirchner and Kaendler and expand the portfolio of MEISSEN porcelain figurines with countless breathtaking animal sculptures - whether Paul Walther, Erich Oehme or the great Jörg Danielczyk. After Danielczyk had already been working for the manufactory for nine years, the master modeller at the time, Peter Strang, chose him at random from a number of manufactory artists to model a horse. Not just any horse, but a real equestrian celebrity: the Hessian mare Halla, who won gold several times at the Summer Olympics together with Hans Günter Winkler. Danielcyk managed to fully penetrate and reproduce the character of the animal model, so that the enthusiastic Peter Strang took him on as a pupil and moulded him into the great modeller that he was until his retirement in 2017. He was also able to demonstrate this talent in 2013 with the creation of the noble Arabian, which now served as the model for the three purple prizes of honour at the International Festival Hall Riding Tournament in Frankfurt.

We are looking forward to the many exceptional performances at the International Festival Hall Riding Tournament in Frankfurt and are proud to be part of this great IFRF history.