Limited Masterworks Vase four Elements "Fire"

Fire, water, earth, air - the 18th-century aristocracy simply adored allegorical depictions of the elements. Personified as gods or visualised by means of animate beings and artefacts, the forces of nature were portrayed as having a human or, indeed, a superhuman soul. Kings and princes liked to be seen mastering the elements or at least as being highly regarded by them. 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 re-issuing the latter series for the first time.

Kaendler's sumptuously decorated masterpiece reflects his age's switch to designing porcelain in a European vein. Extravagant figurative embellishments ranging from shallow relief moulding to features modelled in the round such as a dragon, the flame issuing from the vase's neck and a tiny cherub transform the vessel into a sculpture with an intricate silhouette that appears to be in flux. Castings from a total of 85 separate moulds were required for a vase the crafting of which posed particular difficulties due to the openwork involved - where should the perforations be made and where exactly are the dragon and all the other items of decorative detail to be attached?

The first casting of this garniture can be admired in the Orangerie at Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, by the way.