Details, top to bottom:
Artist Johann Gregorius Höroldt (1696-1775) created many of the illustrations that became standard patterns used on Meissen porcelain through the 1740s. Among his best-known creations are idealized European landscapes and Chinoiserie scenes showing elaborately dressed Chinese figures in fanciful landscape settings. These illustrations were assembled in a pattern book known as the Schulz Codex.
This garniture, a prized set of vases intended for display on a mantelpiece, was made for Augustus the Strong’s (reg. 1694-1733) personal use as indicated by the AR (Augustus Rex, meaning Augustus the King) monogram on the bottom of the pieces. This vase shows the Chinese imperial couple seated and drinking tea. Overhead are a flying dragon and flying phoenix, symbols of the emperor and empress of China.
