18th CENTURY MEISSEN PORCELAIN GROUP, circa 1737-1738 Designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler and Johann Friedrich Eberlein Representing a dog perched on the roof of a niche and held in place by a chain, its coat painted brown; a small chip in the chain H.10.5 cm (4 ¼ in.) Provenance: Christie's London sale, 1 December 1986, lot 137 ; Sotheby's London sale, 1 May 2013, lot 199 ; Acquired during the latter sale by the current owner. An 18th century Meissen porcelain group depicting a dog sitting on its kennel, circa 1737-1738, model by Johann Joachim Kaendler and by Johann Friedrich Eberlein For dessert, porcelain architectures were laid out on the table to form what was called a "Dutch village" or "Hollandische Dorf", with a church, palace, farms and other forms of dwelling animated by peasants and animals made to scale. Although highly successful, Meissen porcelain architecture was reserved for an elite clientele and diplomatic gifts, with production deliberately limited by the manufactory. Henrich Graf von Brühl, the Saxon prime minister and director of the Meissen porcelain manufactory, owned such a set, and an inventory drawn up in 1753 mentions "3 dog kennels with 1 dog" (3 Hunde-Hütten mit 1. Hunde). In December 1737, the work register of the modeller Johann Friedrich Eberlein mentions "a dog kennel with four different dogs" (Eien Hunde Hütte nebst Vier Hunden jeden anderschn um zu verendern Neu Gemacht) (Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Archives AAI, =Ab9, f° 270). For comparable dogs and kennels see M. Kunze-Köllensperger, Alexanders Tiere, Sammlung axel Guttman, 1999, p. 46 and 117.