Lot 3 | Meissen | Tureen with Acis and Galathea from the Swan Service

TUREEN WITH ACIS AND GALATHEA FROM THE SWAN SERVICE.

Meissen.
Date: 20th century.
Maker/Designer: Model J.J. Kaendler.
Technique: Porcelain, enriched in colours and gold.
Description: A bulbous body with shell-shaped relief décor on four feet. Two of them as dolphins, two
as mascaron feet with bearded neptune faces wearing reed crowns. The walls are decorated
with three-dimensional shells as well as several flowers and lobster tails, the side
handles are designed as two fish-tailed triton boys. The lid is crowned by Galatea riding
on a water-spouting dolphin with her lover Acis under a cloth billowing in the wind .
Measurement: 44x36x25cm.
Mark: Swordsmark, 05028, porcelain former's no. 857.

Literature:
Pietsch, Ulrich: Das Schwanenservice. Ein Hauptwerk der Brocken Meissener Porzellankunst, in: Schwanenservice. Meissener Porzellan für Heinrich Graf von Brühl, ed. Ulrich Pietsch (Exhib. cat. Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, porcelain collection, 6th of May until 13th of August 2000), Berlin 2000, 24-53.

The large tureens of the Swan Service were arranged in order of size along the longitudinal axis of the table. Based on this position, it can be assumed that they were therefore only intended as representative, decorative objects. Because the lids weighed several kilos, it would hardly have been possible to serve food from them. Since Kaendler did not have to pay any attention to their function, the decoration could be all the richer.
Kaendler was regarded as an extremely educated and well-read artist, and he was particularly interested in the themes of ancient mythology. The story of Acis and Galathea is found in the poetry of Ovid. Galathea was one of the Nereids, one of the 50 daughters of the sea god Nereus. The cyclops Polyphemus fell in love with her, but he could only beg her from land to return his feelings. Galatea teased him from afar, only to elude Polyphemus again and again on a shell pulled by dolphins. One day he saw the nymph in intimate togetherness with her lover Acis, whereupon Polyphemus, in raging jealousy, smashed him with a rock.
The story of Galatea was a popular, often treated theme in the visual arts, literature and music of the Baroque period. Because of its great fame, it was ideally suited to serve as a topic of conversation for guests at banquets that often lasted several hours. In addition to being purely ornamental, the tureens were also used for entertainment and as a topic for conversation at the table.