Saucer 1715 - 1735

This porcelain saucer was made at the Meissen Manufactory in Germany, during the 18th century, a period marked by aristocratic patronage of the arts. The scene painted on the saucer depicts a hunt, a popular subject reflecting the leisure activities of the European elite. Hunting was not merely a sport, but a social ritual, a display of status and control over nature, and the Meissen Manufactory catered to this market. The factory itself was an institution deeply embedded in the social hierarchy of the time, as it was founded by and operated under the patronage of the Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong. Art historians can use sources such as royal inventories, commercial records, and of course the objects themselves to better understand the relationship between art, power, and society.