Meissen

Swan Service Dinnerware

it is the most spectacular testimonial to a dazzling, bygone era, the opus magnum of German Baroque art: the “Swan Service” by Johann Joachim Kaendler. Commissioned in 1737 by Count Heinrich von Brühl, Prime Minister under King Augustus III and later head supervisor of the royal porcelain manufactory, the service of the century needed five years to complete. Never before had an ensemble of this scale been created, and with such a lavish wealth of sculptural details. The original service, designed for 100 people, comprised more than 2200 pieces. The pair of namesake birds, swimming through reeds, appear in porcelain relief, for which Kaendler took inspiration from drawings and etchings in collections in the nearby capital and royal seat of Dresden. Still formed and painted by hand in the Meissen manufactory, this one-of-a-kind service from the royal court of August III brings Baroque banquet culture into the present – steeped in Meissen’s tradition.