the gentleman embracing the lady, who leans into him so that he can kiss her, she guides his left hand towards her décolleté, between them a pug dog jumping up, porcelain, polychrome and gilt group, base covered with polychrome sculptural flowers, height 11.5 cm, some restoration, Meissen, unglazed base with poorly legible sword mark, circa 1750, model by J. J. Kändler 1745 (Ru)

Lit.: U. Pietsch, Die figürliche Meißner Porzellanplastik von Gottlieb Kirchner und Johann Joachim Kändler, catalogue of the porcelain collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2006, p. 27, ill. cat. no. 22, inv. no. P. E. 528; Kändler took affection between elegant lovers as his subject matter on numerous occasions. From the Masonic Order to the Pug Dog Order. With its roots in Great Britain, the notion of the Enlightenment spread throughout Europe from around 1715 and led to the founding of the Masonic Order, whose members chose to order their lives through their good works according to the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity, tolerance and humanity. The term stemmed from the English ‘freemason’, reference being made to the stonemasons and masons who were members of medieval guilds. In 1737, the first lodge was founded in Hamburg, and was given the name ‘Absalom’ in 1740. In 1738 a lodge was founded Dresden by Friedrich August Count of Rutowski, 1702-1764, the illegitimate son of August the Strong and the Turkish lady, Fatima. It was well attended, so that within two years two further lodges were founded. In 1740 this was followed by the founding of a mother lodge in Berlin, on the initiative of Frederick the Great, 1712-1786, which was known as ‘Zu den drei Weltkugeln’, and of a total of 19 lodges in Germany by 1754. In 1738, Pope Clemens XII, 1652-1740, issued a bull of excommunication, banning masonic societies and excommunicating freemasons. In 1740, it was probably Clemens August, Prince Elector of Cologne, 1700-1761, who founded the Order of Pug Dogs, a secret society of freemasons. For the first time, women could also enter the Order, as long as they were Catholics and passed the entrance ritual. The pug dog was used as a motif for the Order, as in courtly circles, the dog was associated with fidelity, reliability and steadfastness. The blue collar with gilt bells was its trademark. The members of the lodge referred to themselves pug dogs and secretly wore silver pug dogs as medallions. In 1745, a ‘Traitor’s tract’ was published in Amsterdam. It set out the ritual followed by the Order and reprinted two images. In 1748, the student ‘Louise Lodge’ at the University of Göttingen was forbidden membership of the Order of the Pug Dog by the university authorities and fully disbanded. In 1751, the ban against freemasons was strengthened by Pope Benedict XIV, in his bull ‘Providas romanorum’. Between 1740 and 1745, Johann Joachim Kändler executed various pug dog models. In the Taxa, his list of work-in-progress reports, he noted that he was executing medium-sized models as pendants, probably in August 1741, for King August III. His first model was the female pug dog with her young and mate. One of the greatest afficianados of pug dogs was King August III’s prime minister, Heinrich Count Brühl. His favourite pug dog was modelled from life by Kändler and Johann Gottlieb Ehder in November 1743, with the monogram, HGVB, on its blue collar with a silver padlock.

Lit.: U. Pietsch, Die figürliche Meißner Porzellanplastik von Gottlieb Kirchner und Johann Joachim Kändler, catalogue of the porcelain collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2006, p. 27, ill. cat. no. 22, inv. no. P. E. 528; Kändler took affection between elegant lovers as his subject matter on numerous occasions. From the Masonic Order to the Pug Dog Order. With its roots in Great Britain, the notion of the Enlightenment spread throughout Europe from around 1715 and led to the founding of the Masonic Order, whose members chose to order their lives through their good works according to the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity, tolerance and humanity. The term stemmed from the English ‘freemason’, reference being made to the stonemasons and masons who were members of medieval guilds. In 1737, the first lodge was founded in Hamburg, and was given the name ‘Absalom’ in 1740. In 1738 a lodge was founded Dresden by Friedrich August Count of Rutowski, 1702-1764, the illegitimate son of August the Strong and the Turkish lady, Fatima. It was well attended, so that within two years two further lodges were founded. In 1740 this was followed by the founding of a mother lodge in Berlin, on the initiative of Frederick the Great, 1712-1786, which was known as ‘Zu den drei Weltkugeln’, and of a total of 19 lodges in Germany by 1754. In 1738, Pope Clemens XII, 1652-1740, issued a bull of excommunication, banning masonic societies and excommunicating freemasons. In 1740, it was probably Clemens August, Prince Elector of Cologne, 1700-1761, who founded the Order of Pug Dogs, a secret society of freemasons. For the first time, women could also enter the Order, as long as they were Catholics and passed the entrance ritual. The pug dog was used as a motif for the Order, as in courtly circles, the dog was associated with fidelity, reliability and steadfastness. The light blue collar with gilt bells was its trademark. The members of the lodge referred to themselves pug dogs and secretly wore silver pug dogs as medallions. In 1745, a ‘Traitor’s tract’ was published in Amsterdam. It set out the ritual followed by the Order and reprinted two images. In 1748, the student ‘Louise Lodge’ at the University of Göttingen was forbidden membership of the Order of the Pug Dog by the university authorities and fully disbanded. In 1751, the ban against freemasons was strengthened by Pope Benedict XIV, in his bull ‘Providas romanorum’. Between 1740 and 1745, Johann Joachim Kändler executed various pug dog models. In the Taxa, his list of work-in-progress reports, he noted that he was executing medium-sized models as pendants, probably in August 1741, for King August III. His first model was the female pug dog with her young and mate. One of the greatest afficianados of pug dogs was King August III’s prime minister, Heinrich Count Brühl. His favourite pug dog was modelled from life by Kändler and Johann Gottlieb Ehder in November 1743, with the monogram, HGVB, on its blue collar with a silver padlock.