`A Passionately Immoderate and Incurable Addiction to Buying Porcelain'
The Collection of Augustus the Strong at Dresden

By Rose Kerr

The quotation in the title of this article is taken from the catalogue to a recent exhibition. That show, and the excellent publication it engendered (Strober, 2001), have rekindled interest in the subject of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733) and the collections of Chinese and Japanese porcelain at Dresden. Of course, the collection and its significance have been well known for many years. Several authors have used the material for pivotal arguments in their texts (see bibliography). However, recent and future developments at Dresden make a limited re-examination timely.

Model of a junk Qing period, c. 1660-1710 Porcelain decorated with enamels on the biscuit Length 30.8 cm Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, P.O. 3358

On 2 July this year I made a brief trip to Dresden, to see the exhibition `La maladie de porcelaine: 100 Meisterwerke ostasiatischen Porzellans aus der Sammlung Augusts des Starken' in the Albertinum, which had opened on 31 March and was nearing the end of a rather short run on 22 July. Some of the 100 astonishing master-works displayed will be discussed below, but first we should briefly reprise the history of the collections themselves.

Augustus the Strong was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. In common with many rulers at European courts in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, he succumbed to an immoderate passion for Oriental porcelain to decorate his palaces. He began collecting in the early years of the eighteenth century and pursued a systematic policy from about 1715 onwards. He bought from dealers at the Leipzig Fair who had acquired their stock at auction in the Netherlands. His ministers and ambassadors were bidden to acquire treasures when stationed overseas and to donate pieces, while Augustus swapped key items with influential friends like the King of Prussia. The Elector had huge funds at his disposal and enormous influence in Europe, and was able to acquire the best items available at the time. By the time of his death, he had amassed about 24,000 items of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. A little less than half the original collection has survived, which given its subsequent turbulent history, is a beneficial outcome.

The entire collection was inventoried between 1721 and 1727, making it an unparalleled source for the study of early export ware. A later inventory of the expanded collections at Dresden was compiled in 1779. Distinctive inventory numbers were painted or incised onto pieces, the early numbers typically appearing in the form illustrated in Figure 1. Many marked Dresden artefacts exist in museums around the world, as dispersal of items began in the nineteenth century and continued into the 1920s. One should add that Dresden inventory marks are faked these days, for they add value to quite ordinary items.

After Augustus' death, the flourishing of European ceramic factories, and in particular the superb manufactory at nearby Meissen, led to the eclipse of the Oriental collections. In the course of the nineteenth century there were plans to form a museum of ceramics but they came to nothing. In 1910 the collection was brought under the jurisdiction of Dr Ernst Zimmermann, who wrote scholarly books on the subject (see Zimmermann 1913 and 1928, among others) - sadly, not well illustrated. After 1933 Zimmermann worked abroad, continuing work on another magnificent collection, that of the Topkapi Saray in Istanbul. In 1942, despite official protests that Dresden was safe, the collection was dispersed for storage at various locations in the countryside. This was fortunate, because on 13 and 14 February 1945 much of Dresden was razed in a great firestorm caused by Allied bombing of the city. Ruins are still visible in the city centre, including those of the Frauenkirche, considered one of the finest churches in Europe. The site had been retained as a monument to the bombing, and the church is now in the process of being reconstructed.

Later in 1945, after the arrival of the Red Army, the collections were carried off to the Soviet Union by the so-called Trophy Commission. The porcelains were only returned to Dresden in 1958, and were installed in the Zwinger Palace in 1962. At that point a modern inventory was compiled, with marks reading `P.O.' (standing for Porzellan Ostasien) followed by a number. Many of the pieces also bear additional Russian numbers, added during their sojourn in the Soviet Union. Since 1962, the majority of pieces have been kept in storage, making them difficult to view.

A major step forward in terms of access to Dresden's oriental porcelains was the recent temporary exhibition and its permanent testimonial in catalogue form, an enterprise for which the curator of two years, Eva Strober, is to be congratulated. In describing some of the more noteworthy pieces included, I have followed the catalogue's order. The series starts with porcelains dating from the mid-Ming period, and the first bowl included entered Europe before 1590, pre-dating Augustus' activities by more than a century. It is an elegant artefact, painted with a water landscape scene in subtle outline and wash (Fig. 2). One point of interest is the inclusion of a large, two-masted sailing ship that may well be European (not shown in this illustration), an unusual feature in the decorative repertoire. This bowl is significant by reason of its status as a gift from Grand Duke Ferdinand de Medici (1549-1609) to the Elector Christian I, and was inventoried in the Kunstkammer in 1590. It was one of a group of sixteen items of porcelain that were sent as a gift to Dresden, and now represent the earliest documented Ming porcelains in Europe.

The bulk of Chinese porcelain acquired by Augustus himself dates from the Kangxi reign (1662-1722). In spite of the fact that everything was purchased in Europe, and should therefore theoretically have comprised shapes and decorations adapted to Western taste, the assemblage actually included an astonishing range of styles and qualities. The dish in Figure 3, for example, was painted in a subtle calligraphic manner that has been termed `Master of the Rocks' by Western writers. This style was suitable for the Chinese domestic market, where customers would have appreciated its relationship to ink painting. The piece is heavily potted and has a channelled footring. The bronze-derived beaker vase in Figure 4 could also have been made for the home market, for custodians of the former imperial collection at the Palace Museum in Beijing chose wares in this style as typifying the best in their museum (Zhu, 1986). Indeed, its quality of manufacture is superior, with finely incised relief, a complex variety of painting styles, and three glazes that were difficult to fire together successfully. This is one of three such items in the Dresden inventoried collection, and it is interesting to note that one of the pieces directly inspired manufacture at Meissen.

Different in type and intended market was the model of a boat shown in Figure 5. How this intricate trinket must have delighted patrons who marvelled at the treasures of the Kunstkammer! Model ships with moving parts and clockwork mechanisms were favourite items, and the Dresden court possessed several made of precious materials like ivory. This junk was entirely constructed of thin sheets of porcelain, carved and modelled to render every detail. The patchwork sails, the furnishings of the boat lavishly adorned with auspicious symbols, the movable rudder and the sliding doors and windows were all painstakingly observed. The junk was not inventoried until 1779, when it was described as having `Indian' crew - Europeans in the eighteenth century sometimes had difficulty in distinguishing Asians of different nationalities.

The bowl in Figure 6 is included here by reason of its decorative scheme, as it conforms to what Europeans have called famille noire. It was not included in the 1721 inventory, and was listed only in 1779. This date, however, ensures that the piece was in Europe, with its decoration complete, in the eighteenth century. The inventory description refers to a `dark green' ground that matches the technique of famille noire, in which matt black is overlaid and given lustre by a more durable green glaze layer. The inventory date of the piece is significant in view of historical assessment of famille noire, a subject of debate since John Pope's provocative thesis (Pope, 1974). Scholars have argued about whether the group, especially large vases, contains a majority of fakes. Another thesis contends that many genuine Kangxi porcelain pieces were redecorated with famille-noire enamels to satisfy a huge demand for the palette in the West during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The subject is due for rigorous reappraisal, in which this bowl could play a part.

The large cistern in Figure 7 has decoration in applied relief, a pattern infrequently used on Kangxi porcelain. Cisterns were employed in China as garden tanks for fish and to grow plants. This example, with a pierced base, is one of several used at Dresden to contain orange trees, of which Augustus the Strong was inordinately fond. As Eva Strober explains, porcelain and oranges were among the most valuable and expensive `exotic' objects of prestige in the baroque period. Augustus was passionate about both, and engravings show that as early as 1709, orange trees in large pots were placed in a palace garden. From 1711 to 1722 the gardens of the Zwinger pleasure palace in Dresden were converted into an orangery, with ranks of orange trees in Chinese porcelain cisterns standing along ledges between the windows.

Standard in form and decoration as European export ware, but outstanding in terms of size and quality, is the garniture of five vases in Figure 8. Standing over sixty centimetres high, the set has been assembled to contain three large, rounded vases with covers and two bronze-form beaker vases. As the early inventory makes clear, however, these containers originally entered the collection as two five-part garnitures. They formed a lavish gift made in June 1722 by Count Wackerbarth, and were no doubt graciously received, as they epitomized top-quality porcelains decorated in a style that Europeans loved. This was the so-called Imari style, named after a seaport in Japan through which much Japanese export porcelain was shipped. These Chinese garnitures were originally considered to be Japanese, and they were included in the inventory under that category. Chinese merchants were quick to respond to customer demand, such was the ardour for Japanese export wares decorated in lavish blue, red and gold. In this case the Chinese potters surpassed themselves, for not only were the dark-toned blue, red and brilliant gold close imitations of Japanese style, but also additions of brilliant greens and yellow highlighted the scheme.

The three vases in Figure 9 could not have arrived in Dresden during Augustus the Strong's lifetime, as they were not inventoried until 1779. Originally part of a six-piece garniture with a matching vase in each form, they are included here because they are uncommon among export wares. In the later Yongzheng (1723-35) and early Qianlong (1736-95) reigns came renewed demand for antique ceramics in China, particularly examples of Song dynasty date (960-1279). This in turn led to experimentation in copying Song glaze effects, in particular admired ceramics with crackled glazes like Guan and Ge ware. The impetus was provided by the court from the late 1720s until the mid-1750s, glaze imitation initially being pioneered at the official kiln at Jingdezhen (Kerr, 1993). New styles in glazes were then manufactured by private factories, promulgating new fashions to a wider public.

Among the oriental porcelains at Dresden, Japanese wares are equally commanding in quality to Chinese, and include certain unique pieces. Illustrated are three rare examples inventoried in 1779 that conform to Japanese domestic taste. The two tiered boxes in Figure 10 are of a type employed in Japan as incense boxes, their elegant design fitting them for use in the tea ceremony. Stacking containers were designed for many functions, their scale ranging from small lacquer inro to large multi-section food containers. Certain examples were exported, and as Eva Strober notes, a comparable box was inventoried at Burghley House in England in 1688 (Ayers et al., no. 51).

Another lidded incense box is illustrated in Figure 11, its decoration of elegant figures in Heian period dress possibly illustrating scenes from Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji). Its survival is remarkable, as only the lid was found at the conclusion of the Second World War. The vessel itself was not recovered until 1999; it had been serving as a salt cellar in a local home for the previous few decades.

The remarkable wall vases in Figure 12 were listed in the inventory of the `Turkish Palace' in 1719, and in the inventory of 1779. They are part of a small assemblage of wall vases in organic forms at Dresden (Impey, 1974). What marks them out, in addition to their unusual shape and exquisite decoration, is the fact that they are not porcelain but stoneware of a type appreciated in Japan. They were either made at Kyoto, or at Okachi near Imari, where Kyoto wares were copied.

The small selection of pieces illustrated in this brief review can only hint at the full richness of the collections at Dresden. At present, the one gallery showing Chinese and Japanese porcelain is closed for refurbishment, and will reopen in September 2002. It will contain about 350 pieces of Chinese blue-and-white, powder blue and gold, enamelled ware on biscuit, famille verte and famille rose, together with Japanese blue-and-white, Imari and Kakiemon wares. Even more promising are future plans for the conversion of the present store into gallery space. This would allow a major part of the collection to be displayed, but as with all such projects, it awaits funding.