Limited Masterworks Can Polychrome and Gold

Never was dining a more lavish affair than at the home of Count Brühl (1700-1763) and his heirs. This was largely down to Johann Joachim Kaendler, Johann Friedrich Eberlein and Johann Gottlieb Ehder, who designed the "Swan Service", the greatest masterpiece of Baroque porcelain art, between 1737 and 1742. Relief-moulded shapes and figures from the realms of the oceans and Greek mythology adorn each of its 2,000-plus items. The service owes its name to the sculpted swans that can be espied floating around on much of the ware. The Rococo would, in the opinion of noted porcelain connoisseur Otto Walcha (1901-1968), have been very much the poorer without the Swan Service. Its various items convey the essence of the age far more aptly than any other porcelain figures from the mid-18th century.

It was in the heady realms of the oceans and Greek mythology that Johann Joachim Kaendler found the overarching themes for the patterns and shapes in his "Swan Service". He spent days drawing copies of various rare shells in the Royal Natural History Collection at Dresden Palace for use as source material. They adorn items of the Baroque service as raised detail, feet or handles in constantly changing permutations. And Kaendler can be truly said to have modelled no end of sea-shells, one example being his nutmeg box. It is borne by three bearded individuals - are they the seafarers who shipped the spices from the Moluccans to Europe or are they perhaps portraits of Poseidon, the god who protected them en route with such a precious cargo? Nutmeg was known as "East Indian gold" up until the 18th century, which certainly made it worthwhile creating stylish vessels in porcelain to store it in.