Pair of Vases from the Swan Service

These vases are extraordinary expressions of the baroque-style taste for robust form, undulating line, and richly modeled surfaces. The sculptural quality of the bouquets of flowers, the swans that form the handles, and the floral garlands draped around the bellies of the vases attest to the mastery of Johann Joachim Kaendler, the gifted court sculptor who designed them. The swans’ sinuous necks and ruffled feathers exhibit a naturalism that Kaendler achieved by sketching from live animals in the royal collections. The theme of swans and the gilded coats of arms identify the vases as pieces from the famed Swan Service, a two thousand-piece dinner service commissioned in 1737 by Count Heinrich von Brühl, the director of the Meissen factory. These two were probably part of a set of four to seven vases of varying sizes and shapes that would have comprised a symmetrical and rhythmic display for a mantelpiece.