Johann Joachim Kändler & Peter Reinicke
German, 1706­1775 & 1715­1768
Meissen porcelain factory
Monkey Band
1765/66
Hard-paste porcelain with enameling and gilding
Fifteen figures ranging in height from 12.7 to 15.2 cm.
Gift of Robert Allerton, 1946.479-494

Monkey Band is one of the most famous and popular group sculptures of Meissen porcelain. Porcelain, a strong, white ceramic, was invented by the Chinese in about 900 A.D., but the first European porcelain factory was not established until 1710 at Meissen, near Dresden.

Meissen porcelain reached its highest point with the sculptor Kändler. He must have had great fun modeling these musicians and dressing them in fashionable court clothes. Which musicians are showing off?