porcelain, painted in lifelike colours, figure of a seated dog facing left with naturalistically shaped and finely painted fur, height 18 cm, base 4 x 24 x 13.5 cm, model by Johann Joachim Kaendler probably 1748, impressed number 25, firing cracks to the belly and hind legs, restoration to the lower jaw and tail, chipping to the underside of the right hind paw, (GO)

Bolognese dogs can be found in numerous Meissen sculptures. The main focus in the design of this figure is on the fluffy, naturalistic fur with its individual strands. Philip II, King of Spain 1556-1598, received two Bolognese dogs as a gift from the Duca d'Este. He thanked him by saying that these two dogs were "the most royal gift you could give an emperor". Madame de Pompadour, Catherine the Great and Empress Maria Theresa also owned Bolognese dogs. Johann Joachim Kaendler notes in his work journals from 1748: “two shaggy Bolognese dogs, facing each other on chimney, one scratching itself, the other sitting upright” (“2. Pologneser zotteligte Hunde, gegeneinander sehend auff Camine zu sezen, davon einer sich kratzet, der andere aber aufrecht sizet”). One example from the work journal of December 1743 is the dog that Kaendler “painted from nature in the most accurate manner” (“nach dem Leben aus sauberste in Thon poußiret”) at the request of Countess Moszczynska, née Cosel (Pietsch, p. 100). In the Taxa, item 97 reads “1 small dog as a companion to the one made for Her Excell. the Countess Mozinska from life” (“1. Kleiner Hund als Compagnon zu dem vor Ihre Excell. die Gräfin Mozinska nach dem Leben gefertigten”) (Rafael, op. cit., p. 53). Both in the work journals and in his Taxa, Kaendler describes numerous dog models for the ladies of the court in the 1740s. Most of them were pugs, which were particularly popular at the Saxon Court after the founding of the Order of the Pug. But there are also small Bolognese dogs and undefined dog breeds.