the lid with gilt crown and a reserve bearing the gilt monogram L held by amorettes, shells heightened with gilt, in the background palm branches, below with sculpted polychrome flowering branches with leaves, the baluster with narrow and wide gilt edging and decoration, Fama, Roman goddess of Glory blowing a trumpet, opposite Flora with flowers in her hair, a flower basket in the left hand, gilt rays of sun with gilt Gorgon head, below the white moulded portrait of Louis XV. on a purple ground, framed by laurel branches with gilt fruit, below the crowned coats-of-arms of France and Navarre, the floating Cupid pointing to the crown, large and small polychrome flowering branches growing from the handles, the base with gilt, light purple and turquoise fluting and arch- and leaf border, height: 83 cm, width: 59 cm, restoration; Meissen, underglaze blue crossed swords mid-19th cent.
impressed no. 20, 86, 103, model ca. 1740 by Johann Joachim Kändler, painter's mark AK (Ru)

Louis XV. (Versailles 15.2.1710–10.5.1774 Versailles), King from 1715, descendant of Louis XIV. ward of Duke Philipps II. of Orléans until 1723, who between 1726–1743 left the actual business of government to Cardinal A. H. de Fleury, resulting in nepotism, mistresses, Marquise de Pompadour, Countess Dubarry;
Lit.: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, ornamental vase with moulded portrait of Louis XV. (with lid and base), Kändler, Johann Joachim (1706–1775) modeller, Meissen, ca. 1741/42 porcelain collection, inventory no PR 107, material and technique, white, height: 84 cm, width: 57 cm;
The five-part set consists of three lidded vases and two pots and was intended as a mantelpiece décor to be arranged symmetrically. Johann Joachim Kändler, the master modeller and later head of the sculpture department at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, received this commission in 1741: “Fünff Stücken sogenannte Vasen oder Aufsätze, welche auf hohe Anordnung Vor den französischen Hof bestellet, and auf nachstehende Weise ins reine bossirt worden”. (Five so-called vases or epergnes ordered by the French court and formed in the following manner). In his work report, he submitted the concept underpinning his design. Such gifts were only presented to high-ranking individuals on special occasions, in this case the recipient becomes readily apparent in the portrait of Louis XV., the allied coats-of-arms of Bourbon and Navarra, and the crowned escutcheon with the letter "L".
Lit.: Jean Louis Sponsel, Kabinettstücke der Meissner Porzellan-Manufaktur von Johann Joachim Kändler, Leipzig 1900, p 143, the guide of the Royal Collection in Dresden states that, “the Marquise de Pompadour sent a vase from the French gardens as a model to the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory". p 145, ill. vase with the half-length portrait of Louis XV.
Lit.: Ernst Zimmermann, Meissener Porzellan, 1926, plate 40, Large vase with battle scenes and the coats-of-arms of Bourbon and Navarre, ca. 1740; plate 43, Large guelder rose from a series of vases created in 1741 and 1742 by Kändler for King Louis XV.;