A conversation with Jeffrey Weaver, Associate Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts, J. Paul Getty Museum and Steven Zucker, Executive Director, Smarthistory in front of A Fox with a Chicken, c. 1732, Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Hard-paste porcelain with traces of oil paint, 46 x 34 x 20 cm. (J. Paul Getty Museum) and A Turkey, c. 1733, Johann Joachim Kändler, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Hard-paste porcelain, 53.5 x 51 x 20 cm. (J. Paul Getty Museum)
Imagine a menagerie of over 500 life-sized porcelain animals displayed in a long gallery in a palace in Dresden. A Fox with a Chicken was a part of this new creation commissioned by Augustus II “The Strong” in the 18th century to share his love for Japanese porcelain with others.
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Additional resources
The porcelain collection of Augustus II “The Strong” from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, “Fabled beasts: Augustus the Strong’s Meissen menagerie,” The Magazine Antiques 164, no. 4 (October 2003): pp. 152–161.
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