[3] In 1742 he made a monumental portrait bust of Manuel Pinto de Fonseca, Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

The works he had sent home had received such positive attention that his hometown commissioned a full standing portrait of King Louis XV from him.

He exhibited at the Paris Salons, 1750-1751 and 1753.He created a plaster bust of Madame de Pompadour in 1752, and a statue of Amor for her the next year.

In 1752 Saly was commissioned to create a sculpture of King Frederick V of Denmark on horseback to be placed in the center of the courtyard of Amalienborg Palace.

Sculptor Edmé Bouchardon rejected the offer, but suggested Saly, who wanted a significant sum for the model and free housing in Copenhagen.

[4] During the same period of time the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) was officially established with offices at Charlottenborg, on Frederik V's birthday, 31 March 1754.

Saly gave the main speech at the event, a snub to the current Academy Director architect Nicolai Eigtved.

[5] Saly was also instrumental in bringing his friend from the French Academy and the years in Italy, fellow-countryman and architect Nicolas-Henri Jardin, to the attention of King Frederik V as the suitable choice to replace Nicolai Eigtved for the design and building of Frederik's Church (Frederikskirke), now known as The Marble Church (Marmorkirken), work on which had begun in 1749.

Saly, after having set up an appropriate studio, carried out the work on the large model of the equestrian statue 1761-1763, and the plaster cast was presented to the Academy members on 3 February 1764.

Johan Martin Preisler made a large engraving of the equestrian statue 1768-1769 in commemoration of its completion, and The Danish Asiatic Company cast two medallions, one by Wulff and the other by Daniel Jensen Adzer.

This all occurred during the reformist reign of Johann Friedrich Struensee, Saly was named Knight of the Order of St Michel in Paris, but was not allowed to bear the title while living in Denmark.

During this time he tried to justify an additional sum from the Danish Asiatic Company for his extraordinary services on the monument to Frederik V, considering how much longer the statue took to complete than originally planned.

His artistic achievements are overshadowed by the monumental effort to create the equestrian statue of Frederik V of Denmark under the king's absolute rule.