Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Billy Goat

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European Decorative Arts and Sculpture

Billy Goat

Made in Meissen, Germany, Europe

c. 1732

Probably modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, German, 1706 - 1775. Made by the Meissen porcelain factory, Meissen, Germany, 1710 - present.

Hard-paste porcelain
21 3/4 x 28 x 13 3/4 inches (55.2 x 71.1 x 34.9 cm)

* Gallery 270, European Art 1500-1850, second floor

1989-22-2

Bequest of John T. Dorrance, Jr., 1989

Label

This goat and its mate were among the hundreds of life-size porcelain animals and birds commissioned by Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, for his "Japanese" palace in Dresden, Germany. The figures were produced-most of them between 1731 and 1735-by the porcelain factory founded at Meissen under Augustus's sponsorship in 1710. Meissen was the first factory in Europe to succeed in producing true, or "hard-paste," porcelain. The numerous firing cracks visible on these figures attest to the enormous technical challenge they presented. Too fragile to withstand an additional enamel firing, they were originally colored with oil paint that has gradually washed off.

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