The Möllendorff Dinner Service of Meissen porcelain was designed in about 1762 by Frederick II the Great, King of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

(1712–86), in collaboration with Karl Jacob Christian Klipfel, a Meissen artist and musician. Some of the figures were modelled by

Johann Joachim Kändler Johann Joachim Kändler (June 15, 1706 – May 18, 1775) was a German sculptor who became the most important modeller of the Meissen porcelain manufactury, and arguably of all European porcelain. He worked at Meissen for over 40 years, fro ...

(1706–75). The factory's renown was in great part due to the ingenuity of Kändler, a court sculptor who became chief modeller for Meissen and worked there for 42 years. The service, which originally consisted of over 960 pieces, was presented to the Prussian Major-General (later Field-Marshal)

Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf (7 January 1724 – 28 January 1816) was a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia. Life and career Möllendorf was born in Lindenberg (Prignitz), now a part of Wittenberge, in the Margraviate of B ...

(1724–1816), as a reward for his military achievements during Frederick II's Seven Years' War (1756–63) against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

for possession of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

. Divided up in the 19th century, groups of the Möllendorff Dinner Service are now held in both public and private collections worldwide.

Meissen porcelain

Meissen was the first European factory to make

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

successfully in 1710. Although the secret of porcelain production soon spread to other European centres, the supremacy of Meissen's ceramics remained unchallenged for many decades. In the 1720s the Meissen factory began to produce richly decorated table services, which soon came to replace silver as grand diplomatic gifts.

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mollendorff Dinner Service Collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum Meissen porcelain Individual pieces of porcelain