Magnificent Meissen figurine girandole as centrepiece with silver group 1- or 7-panel; six-part, round-face ensemble of fully sculpted figures and groups, mounted on a pale-coloured, marbled and profiled wooden base. A dynamic, animated, bacchanalian scene depicting Bacchus and his drinking entourage. Ionic column shaft with pink-coloured fluting, crowned by an acanthus-relief candle spout, rising from a relief-sculpted rock base with applied plant clusters, small trees and vines and tendrils. Removable candlestick attachment consisting of seven curved arms with a vase-shaped spout above a leaf-shaped rosette as a wax catcher. Covered on all sides with sculpted vines. On the front, a drunken Silen seated on a donkey with a wine bottle and goblet, surrounded by the wine-wreathed Bacchus with a leopard skin, holding a drinking vessel to his mouth and a satyr boy with a human torso and goat's legs. Below lying Bacchante with a basket filled with grapes. To her sides a putto holding up a bunch of grapes and another satyr boy, each carrying a bottle of wine. At the back, a horned satyr child crouching between lush foliage and vines, grasping a struggling billy goat by the horns. Standing to his right, Pan playing the flute. Polychrome painting with gold staffage. Designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler, c. 1766, model no. A 196, unmarked; crossed swords mark. Meissen. 2nd half 19th century; h. 56 cm resp. 75 cm. Similar multi-part groups, for example the centrepiece "Parnassus with Apollo and the nine muses", were often ordered in conjunction with extensive services. The depiction of Bacchus and his entourage was an extremely popular theme in 18th century Meissen porcelain sculpture and was realised with Bacchus as a single figure or as a group with siles, satyr boys or bacchantes. Kaendler had already executed the present central group of Bacchus silhouettes in combination with an Ionic column shaft on a dish from the so-called "Möllendorf Service" with an iron-red scaled rim, which was ordered by Frederick the Great in 1761 and produced according to royal specifications. See Pietsch, cat. Triumph of the Blue Swords, no. 295, 400 and p. 293f.; V&A Museum London, inv. no. C. 248-1921. A splendid porcelain candelabra as centrepiece composed of seven figural elements depicting a bacchanalia scene with Bacchus and his entourage. Modelled by J. J. Kaendler, ca. 1766. Insignificantly restored. Crossed swords mark. Second half of 19th C. Meissen. 2nd half of 19th cent.