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| Meissen porcelain factory Abduction of Proserpine c. 1752 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Putto as Harlequin 1756 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
Johann Joachim Kändler (1706-1775) became court sculptor to Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony in 1730 while still in his early twenties. In 1733 he became Chief Modeler for the Meissen Porcelain Factory, a post he retained for forty years. During that time he created more than 1,000 new models and "established the porcelain figure as its own distinctive art form," according to curators at the Getty.
The Meissen pieces by Kändler pictured here are part of the vast collection of Meissen-ware at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Some, like the elongated shepherdess below, were based on fashionable engravings. The commedia dell'arte figures farther down are conventional characters in conventional poses, but under Kändler's hands they came to resemble the simple melodies transformed by Mozart into unexpected poetic shapes.
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| Meissen porcelain factory Shepherdess with birdcage c. 1750-55 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Shepherds with bagpipes c. 1750 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Razullo (commedia dell'arte) 1758 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Pantalone (commedia dell'arte) c. 1741-44 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Columbine & Pantalone (commedia dell'arte) c. 1738-41 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Harlequin (commedia dell'arte) c. 1740 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Columbine & Beltrame (commedia dell'arte) c. 1740 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Cherry picking 1765 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Allegorical figure of Europe 1746 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Tailor on Goat c. 1740 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory The Merchant's Wife c. 1758 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Meissen porcelain factory Shepherd & Shepherdess c. 1741-43 modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler Victoria & Albert Museum |