Chocolate cup and saucer with dragons and phoenixes

Meissen Manufactory

ca. 1739 · Hard-paste porcelain painted with colored enamels over transparent glaze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

A service decorated with red dragons was delivered to Augustus III, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, between 1734 and 1739. The Red Dragon pattern is now thought to have originated at Meissen, but its concurrent appearance on Chinese and Japanese porcelain obscures the source of its invention. The phoenix in the center, as a symbol of the female (yin) principle, complements the dragon as that of the male (yang) principle.

Artist

Meissen Manufactory

Date

ca. 1739

Medium

Hard-paste porcelain painted with colored enamels over transparent glaze

Culture

German, Meissen

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection, Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973