257. A Meissen figure of a Lady of the Mopsorden, circa 1745 Modelled by J.J. Kaendler, wearing a crinoline gown decorated with indianische Blumen and a turquoise underskirt, holding a pug dog under her left arm and with another at her feet, the canted pedestal embellished with gilt foliate motifs, 29cm high, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue to rear of pedestal, (chip to one corner of pedestal) Provenance Formerly in the collection of the owner's grandfather; thence by descent The first Masonic lodges in German lands were established in Hamburg in 1737 and Berlin in 1740, attracting many members from the Protestant nobility. Catholics were forbidden from joining by a papal bull issued by Pope Clement XII in 1738. In response, the pseudo-Masonic Order of the Pug Dog (Mopsorden) was established, which copied masonic rituals, but – unlike the Freemasons – allowed women to join. The pug dog, the fashionable lapdog of the time, was adopted as a symbol of the order, which resulted in the production of numerous courtly figures and groups with pugs, as well as models of the dogs themselves, at the Meissen manufactory. See Stefan Bursche, Meissen Steinzeug und Porzellan, 1980, pp. 300-301; and, for a detailed account of the Mopsorden, Erich Köllmann, "Der Mopsorden," in Keramos 50 (1970): 71ff. Another example with her companion male piece is in the T&T Collection, illustrated in Claire Dumortier and Patrick Habets (eds.), Porcelain Pugs: A Passion, 2019, p. 175, cat. 38.