Meissen Menagerie Madness

These two Meissen animals are said to be a lion and lioness, but look a lot more like dogs to me, and kind of scary at that. They are made from hard-paste porcelain and feature in the Met Museum's excellent show that is an homage to the soon-to-end Philippe de Montebello directorship ( the terracotta dancer of a post or two back was part of the same show ). Apparently animals of this type were all the rage in their day.

election

The decoration around the outside of this pot is based on the idea of those little levers we encounter inside the voting booth; an old-school style of contraption which will soon be obsolete. We here at the dojo are just as happy as can be with our new prez.

terracotta

This earthenware female dancer from the 2nd century b.c. has traces of slip and oxides still visible, and is an example of early Chinese sculpture from the Western Han Dynasty. Simple forms, but amazingly expressive. One can really get a sense of the slow movements of the dance, and a feel for what the weight of that costume was like to move around in. The massive shapes of the long sleeves of the garment are pretty fascinating.