and Seneca

Technical virtuosity flourished in the fields of pottery

Peggy Fogelman is director of education and interpretation at the Peabody Essex Museum

Jane Bassett and Peggy Fogelman

Oskar Bätschmann is professor of art history at the Universität Bern

A Royal Menagerie: Meissen Porcelain Animals fantasy and SenecaSamuel Wittwer Heroic is perhaps the only word to describe the Meissen porcelain animals made for the Elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus. They were commissioned in 1728 and modeled and executed by 1735. The great size of the figures presented many technical difficulties in creation and firing. Their mere completion in so many cases was itself a tour de force, making it arguably the most significant commission for porcelain executed in Europe.