Johann Joachim Kändler

First as chief of sculptural shaping, later as arcanist, he led the state porcelain manufactury through the restless period of the Seven Years' War and kept production going against the odds.

Kändler's professional life began as an apprentice under the important Dresden court sculptor and altar carver Johann Benjamin Thomae (1682–1751).

His talent did not remain unnoticed and on 22 June 1731 at the age of 25, he was appointed court sculptor by Augustus II and installed as a modeller at the Meissen porcelain manufactory.

His early sculptures, which primarily drew motifs from the natural world, were celebrated for their accuracy and elegance, which contrasted with most work in their pathos.

The "Swan Service" created for von Brühl, which is today considered a masterpiece of porcelain art, marked his turn to small decorative figures.

Together with his co-workers, he created entire groups of small accessories and figurines, which took the romantic shepherd imagery of rococo and infused it with the life of Commedia dell'arte characters.

Out of the over a thousand different items, the "Monkey Band" (or orchestra) created in 1753, which Kändler wished to be seen as a metaphorical rejection of any kind of compulsion, stands out.

With this homage to the Enlightenment ideal of the free and rational human, he tapped into the contemporary zeitgeist and created a timeless masterpiece of European porcelain art.