91. Rare groupe en porcelaine de Meissen représentant un franc-maçon et une dame, circa 1745 A rare Meissen group of a Freemason and lady, circa 1745 Modelled by J.J. Kaendler, seated at a breakfast table, a pug on her lap, beautifully detailed with a pocket watch, gold tabatiere, and coffee pot and two cups and saucers on the elegant table, he dressed in a red gilt-edged jacket, she in a blue yellow-lined cape, 14.6cm high (some restoration) Provenance: The Rosa Alba Collection of Meissen Porcelain There are two brief mentions of Freemason groups in Kaendler's work records in May and November 1744. The Taxa of overtime work mentions in an entry dated 21 November 1744: '1. Frey Maurer Groupgen, da ein Frey-Maurer in seiner Kleidung und Schurz Fell neben einer Dame vom Mopß-Orden sizet, welche ihn mit einer Chocolate, die sie auf dem Tisch neben sich stehen hat, beehret, auf deren Schooß liegt ein Mopß' [1 Freemason group, a Freemason in his clothes and hide apron seated next to a Lady of the Order of Pugs, who offers his chocolate that she has standing on a table next to him]. For the significance of the pseudo-Masonic Mopsorden, or Order of the Pug Dog, see E. Köllmann, Der Mopsorden, in Keramos 50/1970, pp. 71-82. Other examples of this group are in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection (I. Menzhausen, In Porzellan verzaubert, p. 114), and in the Gustav von Klemperer (no. 601), Walther von Pannwitz (no. 276) and Gustav von Gerhardt (no. 89) collections.