porcelain, white glazed, large-format sculptural centrepiece. The muscular sea god Glaucus with a fish tail rises from an animated wave base, carrying an openwork confectionery tray on his head, height 45 cm, model by Johann Joachim Kaendler and Johann Friedrich Eberlein 1738/1739, minor restoration, (GO)

The basic idea for this design came from a model for an étagère designed by J.J. Kaendler in December 1737, on the lowest step of which sat Glaucus in a shell, carrying a confectionery bowl on his head. The original centrepiece with polychrome staffage for this design was preserved in the Dresden Porcelain Collection, until it was lost in 1945. Cf. Pietsch, cat. Schwanenservice, pp. 46, 92, nos. 60, 97.

Glaucus helped sailors with his gift of prophecy, including the Argonauts when they got into choppy seas. He also helped sailors in the event of shipwreck.
An encounter of Glaucus with the Argonauts was described by Diodorus Siculus [16] and Philostratus the Elder: [17] When the Argonauts were caught in a storm, Orpheus turned to the Cabeiri with a prayer; the wind died down and Glaucus appeared. He followed Argo for two days and prophesied to Heracles and the Dioscuri their future adventures and eventual deification. He also addressed the other crew members, emphasising that he had been sent to them thanks to Orpheus' prayer and instructing them to continue praying to the Cabeiri. In Apollonius Rhodius' version, Glaucus appears at the point where Telamon is arguing with Jason about Heracles and Polyphemus being left behind on the coast of Bithynia, where Hylas had been lost. Glaucus reconciled the two by telling them that Heracles was destined to return to the court of Eurystheus and complete his twelve tasks, and that Polyphemus was to found Cius, while Hylas had been abducted by a nymph and had married her. [18] Cf. also above the version that made Glaucus himself an Argonaut.

Lit.:
Exhibition catalogue: Schwanenservice - Meissener Porzellan für Heinrich Graf von Brühl, ed. by Ulrich Pietsch, Dresden 2000