Lion (one of a pair)

myminifactory

This pair of lions belongs to one of the most ambitious ceramic commissions ever undertaken. They were among 150 mammals and 300 birds produced in the 1730s for the Japanese Palace, a royal palace in Dresden. This menagerie of porcelain animals was created for Augustus the Strong, ruler of Saxony from 1670-1733, who had established the Meissen factory in 1710. No one had ever attempted to create porcelain sculptures on this scale before, and the various imperfections - notably the firing cracks - indicate just how difficult it was to model and fire objects of this size. A special ceramic paste was developed to help overcome these challenges, and the animals were left to dry for up to three months after modeling but before firing at 800 degrees C to prevent them from exploding in the kiln. The animals were then glazed and fired again at a much higher temperature (1400 Centigrade), which caused them to shrink by approximately one sixth. Although these porcelain sculptures were meant to be colored naturally, they could not withstand a third firing, so oil paints were used instead - unfortunately, most of these have faded over time.The bluish tint on the male lion is likely due to one of three possible factors: the addition of cobalt to the glaze to reduce the yellow hue of the porcelain paste; residue from cobalt in the mills where the glaze was prepared; or the presence of iron dust, which turns blue when exposed to a reduction kiln. These two lions are cornerstones of the Metropolitan Museum's impressive collection of Meissen porcelain and were acquired in 1988 from the Earl of Longford's collection at Tullynally Castle in Ireland.