"A Princely Pursuit" highlights more than seventy pieces from the Meissen porcelain collection of Malcolm D. Gutter. Promised to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the collection’s roughly 170 works focus on exemplary early examples from the German manufactory and trace the evolution and experimentation of Meissen wares.
Among the key pieces are a significant number of objects from Augustus II’s royal collection intended for the Japanisches Palais, his pleasure palace in Dresden, either commissioned from Meissen or imported from China and Japan. Other rare and important objects include many examples of early red stoneware (Böttgersteinzeug) as well as numerous pieces created under the direction of Johann Höroldt (1696–1775). Curator of decorative arts Maria Santangelo provides a comprehensive history about this important collection and its key pieces while delineating the early development of the manufactory. "A Princely Pursuit" also features a general history about Meissen collecting by Meissen specialist Sebastian Kuhn, as well as an introductory text and stories about individual pieces by the collector himself.
- An essential contribution to the field of decorative arts.
- Reproduces many documented pieces from the royal collection of Augustus II, founder of the Meissen manufactory, including both Meissen and Asian works.
- Captures in the collector’s own voice his determined—at times painstaking—hunt for Meissen porcelain.
