A Meissen porcelain model of a pug dog on a cushion
Seated figure of a female pug dog facing left, the pelt and facial features finely picked out in pale colours. Around her neck a purple ribbon with a yellow bow and three golden bells. The cushion painted in iron red with black foliate ornament and four golden tassels. Smoothed, unmarked base. Restoration to the tail, bells and minor chips on the ears. H 11 cm.
Model by Johann Joachim Kaendler, around 1743 - 45.
On the unusual topic of the Order of the Pug, we recommend reading Erich Köllmann's essay in Keramos 50/70, which describes the only known publication on the order, founded by the Cologne Elector Clemens August, and the reasons for its founding, as laid out in the book "L'ordre des Francs-Macons trahi et le Secret des Mopses relevé" by Abbé Gabriel Louis Calabre Perau, published in Amsterdam in 1745. The Order's solemn but silly initiation rite, satirising that of the Freemasons, is described in particular detail. The book is thought to have been a suggestion for a critical parlor game in response to the banishment and excommunication of the French Freemasons by Pope Clement XII in 1738. Women were also admitted into this new Order, one of whom, as Grand Pugess, was to hold the position of lodge mistress together with her male counterpart, the Grand Pug.
Literature
Cf. Dumortier/Habets (ed.), The T&T Collection. Porcelain Pugs A Passion, Brussels 2019, cat. no. 12.
Cf. Helke/Schandelmaier, Höfische Begleiter. Möpse und andere Hunde in Porzellan und Fayence, Stuttgart 2020, cat. no. 21.
A slightly larger pug dog with identical decor offered in Lempertz Cologne aucktion 1000 on 16 November 2012, lot 72.