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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Monkey-Conductor & Monkey-Musicians ca. 1753 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Candlestick with Monkey-Conductor ca. 1753 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Candlestick with Monkey-Drummer ca. 1753 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Candlestick with Monkey-Violinist ca. 1753 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Affenkapelle-ware (literally "monkey-orchestra-ware") refers to a series of figures created by the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in Saxony about 1747 and imitated later. Believed to be a parody of the Dresden Court Orchestra, the set was modeled by the German sculptors Johann Joachim Kändler and Peter Reinicke after fanicful singerie (monkies in human costume) engravings by the French artists Jean-Antoine Watteau and Christophe Huet. Each monkey musician, dressed in delicately colored formal 18th-century costume, stands on a gilded scrollwork base of leaves and flowers: a male monkey conducts, four females sing, and each of the others play a musical instrument. In 1753 Meissen supplied the Marquise de Pompadour with a "concert" of 19 players, which is the largest known surviving group, though there is evidence that a whole set might have numbered 25. The figures belong to the most brilliant period of Meissen porcelain, and Kändler's mastery of expression clearly transcends mere caricature.
– adapted from the Encyclopaedia Britannica
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Europa 1746-47 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Venus in her Chariot 1774 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Catherine the Great on horseback 1770 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Fireplace-Vase with figure of Apollo 1744-45 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Fireplace-Vase with figure of Mercury 1744-45 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Leda and the Swan ca. 1744 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Swan ca. 1748 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Allegory of Architecture 1772-74 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Basket of Flowers on Stand with Swans ca. 1750 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Clock in form of a Chariot ca. 1750 Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |