"Myth Meissen - Europes first porcellain"

Galery "Schloss Weyer" - "Meissen" porcelain

Special exhibition in the castle "Schloss Weyer" in Gmunden by the lake Traunsee in the Salzkammergut

Special Exhibition 2012 "Myth Meissen - Europes first porcellain" from June till end of September 2012

opening hours
The exhibition is open from June till end of September 2012
Tuesday to Friday:
10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon and 2.00 p.m. to 5.30. p.m.
Saturdays: 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Sundays, Mondays and public holidays: closed

Admission charge: EUR 9.50 per person
EUR 7,50 per person reduce entry with the Salzkammergut Card!
Groups: EUR 9.50 per person, Registration requested!

One of the most beautiful private Meissen collections in Schloss Weyer in Gmunden on the lake Traunsee has been enriched by an unprecedented number of unique porcelain masterpieces from the oldest porcelain manufacturer in Europe, just in time for the beginning of the exhibition.

Important information:
Guided group tours are also possible out of the opening hours after registration under phone: +43 7612 6501813

With more than 1000 exhibits the Meissen collection in Schloss Weyer ranks as one of the most beautiful porcelain collections in Europe. Porcelain treasures for the Empress Elisabeth, Tsarina Catherine the Great and August the Powerful, as well as more than 20 royal houses, are among the items to be seen here. Porcelain art, from baroque to contemporary, created by the most important sculptors and porcelain artists from Meissen from 1710 until the present. Nearly every historical exhibit shown here has its own special story, thrilling and fascinating, often like a fairy tale out of 1001 Nights. 300 years of art-, culture- and porcelain history will become visible, comprehensible, and will come to life for the visitor. An unusual feature of this exhibition unique of its kind is that, not only can one admire historical treasures, which can otherwise be seen only in the largest European art collections and museums, but the porcelain lover also has the opportunity to purchase particularly rare and beautiful Meissen porcelain at original wholesale prices as in Meissen itself.



Magnificent Terrine and Confectionery Bowl from the legendary Swan Service
Artist and date of manufacture: Johann Joachim Kaendler/1736 - 1741
The father of European porcelain art worked on this dinner service for more than five years. With more than 2200 pieces, it is the most extensive and magnificent ever produced in Meissen. Graf Brühl, the prime minister under August the Powerful, electoral prince of Saxony and King of Poland, used it when entertaining up to 100 royal guests at one.



Malabar (picture left)
Artist and date of manufacture: Friedrich Elias Meyer/1750-60
In the middle of the l8^th century, when Meissen‘s modeller Friedrich Elias Meyer produced this Malabar figure, very little was known about these so-named people in the most southern parts of India, and only from travellers‘ tales. The Marchioness of Pompadour, the favourite of Louis XV, received the first specimen tor her porcelain cabinet in the Palace of Versailles.

Vase 1001 Nights (back and front views pictured centre and right)
Artist and date of manufacture: Ludwig Zepner/1960
This vase, a collaboration between the most important Meissen artists of the second half of the 20^th century, Ludwig Zepner, Heinz Werner and Peter Strang, was first shown in 1982 at a politically motivated exhibition in the Museum tor Applied Art in Vienna.



Rare porcelain sculptures by Paul Scheurich
Artist: Paul Scheurich
Harlequin and Columbine: dated 1914 (pictured left)
Bajazzo: dated 1919 (pictured centre)
Lady with a young Mohr: dated 1918 (pictured right)
With more than 30 porcelain sculptures by Paul Scheurich, the most outstanding of all the sculptors and porcelain artists of the first half of the 20^th century, Schloss Weyer owns one of the most extensive Scheurich collections in Europe.



Lady playing bowls (picture left)
Artist & date: Walter Schott/1897/1903
The sculptor Walter Schott modelled this graceful girl in the neoclassic style originally as a bronze sculpture, which is now in the Berlin National Museum, and premiered it at the International Dresden Art Exhibition in 1897. The Meissen porcelain manufacturers bought the rights of reproduction in porcelain. One must of course take into consideration the fact that porcelain is a much more difficult material for an artist to work as, during the drying process and the subsequent firing at 9000 and 1450° respectively, the sculpture loses about a sixth of its mass. The consequent stresses and risk of breakage are therefore very high, on the other hand, no other material can offer the same appeal as the reflective glaze and the painted details.

Till Eulenspiegel (picture right)
Artist & date: Alexander Struck/1941
Till Eulenspiegel - the jester and bitter foe of the rich and powerful, helper of the poor and oppressed. Re was not only a clown but a well read and wise man, which the sculptor Alexander Struck (1902-1990) wanted to illustrate with the pile of books on which Eulenspiegel is sitting. The owl, sitting on his shoulder, symbolises justice and wisdom. This figure came into being during the second world war when prominent Meissen artists, one of whom was the artist A. Struck who worked for the Meissen manufacturers for more than 56 years, escaped into the world of fairy tales and legend to avoid commissions to produce art sympathetic to national socialism.



Hunting Cup (picture left)
Artist & date: Johann Joachim Kaendler/1741
The origin of this hunting cup is based on a curious incident which took place on 27^th October 1739. While on a hunt the pack of hounds of the electoral prince Clemens August from Cologne chased a stag up onto the roof of a sheepfold, until his hunters killed it for their hunt obsessive master. As a memento of this occurrence, Clemens August received this hunting cup as a gift from King August III.

Paduan Cock (picture right)
Artist & date: Johann Joachim Kaendler/1732
The founder of the first European porcelain manufacturers in Meissen, August the Powerful, had many exotic animals in his royal menagerie. The most magnificent of these were formed life size in porcelain by the father of European porcelain art, J.J. Kaendler. An example is this cock, which was bred in the district surrounding Padua, anti was used for cock fighting which was very popular in southern countries.



Bird Clock (pictured left)
Around the middle of the l8^th century well stocked ‘menageries‘ were very popular at the royal courts. August the Powerful also had such animal reserves in Dresden and at his hunting palace in Moritzburg. Kaendler had the opportunity here to study rare animals and exotic birds, as we can admire on this clock housing, which was produced for the Tsarina Catherine the Great.

Elephant Candle Stick (pictured right)
Artist & date of manufacture: Max Esser/1924
Tradition and contemporary are two sides of the same coin for Meissen. At the beginning of the 20^th century the porcelain manufacturers set new standards of modern porcelain art with new products by freelance artists. The manufacturers were inspired by the new breath of life of Art Nouveau. This development reached its peak with works of art of Meissen Art Deco by Max Esser, for example this elephant candle stick, created in 1924, of which one of the first pieces produced and signed by the artist can be seen in Schloss Weyer.

We are looking forward to your visit!

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