The Dresden Porcelain Collection was started by fanatical collector August the Srong, Kind of Poland, around 1715 who displayed his collection in palace specially converted for their display. The collection has grown into one of the most comprehensive comprising of roughly 20,000 items. The Dresden Porcelain Collection presents the masterpieces which features
-- Over 98 objects and groupings, including many examples from exquisite services
-- Chinese porcelain of the Kangxi era
-- 17th and early 18th century Imari and Kakeimon styly porcelain from Japan
-- Contemporary Meissen porcelain, the producer once owned by Augustus the Strong
An except from the book -
The general enthusiasm for East Asia following the fashion for all things Chinese, which Friedrich August I of Saxony had encountered at other European courts during his grand tour, was apparently the decisive factor in awakening his passion for porcelain, a precious and exotic luxury product, which finally infected him with the "maladie de porcelaine". His election in 1697 as Augustus II, King of Poland - he was generally known as Augustus the Strong - finally created the prerequisite for his desire to use porcelain as an exotic work of art of the highest order in the representation of his royal splendor and as a demonstration of power. Augustus II appears to have identified especially with the magnificence of the oriental empires of China, Japan and India.
