Figure of a group of four men and women symbolising the seasons c. 1765 - 1770

This sculpture of the four seasons was produced by the Ludwigsburg porcelain factory, likely in the late eighteenth century, using a refined white porcelain. Porcelain's smooth, dense surface captures an incredible amount of detail, and its pure white color gives the whole group an ethereal quality. Imagine the highly skilled labor required to create such a delicate object: each figure would have been individually cast, and then meticulously assembled. The work is not only about representing the seasons, but also about demonstrating the factory's technical virtuosity. The whiteness of the porcelain itself speaks to a desire for refinement and luxury, as does the allegory of the seasons, a subject of sophisticated courtly art since the Renaissance. Yet, like all porcelain, this group relies on a combination of high art and the division of labor: from the mining of the clay, to the modeling, casting, firing, and painting, each step was performed by specialized workers, reflecting the wider social and economic landscape of its time.