with allegories of time, fortune, and fame, Chronos holding an oval medallion with a bust in profile painted en grisaille on a pink ground, to one side stands the goddess, Fortuna on a winged globe, in her right hand a cloth wafting entwined with flowers, in her left hand a bouquet of flowers demonstrating the future flora of the land, above whom on a bank of clouds, Fame, blowing her trumpet, to the centre of the base, the Electoral Saxon coat-of-arms with the Electoral Hat surmounted by a crown, below which the attributes of the fine arts, painting, music and poetry, sculpture and astronomy with a compass, to one side a small genius with palm branches in his hands, rocky base with 3 palms, bushels of grass, flowers, leafy stems and mushrooms, porcelain, polychrome and gilt figural group, height 37.5 cm, some restoration, Meissen, underglaze blue sword mark with dot 1765, model by J. J. Kändler 1765, model no. A 80 registered in the archive, this group being a unique work (Ru)

The ‘Glorification of the Electorate of Saxony is an exceptional figural group in that it depicts a portrait of Maria Josepha of Austria, the wife of August III, Dresden 17.10.1696-5.10.1763, King of Poland from 1733, as Friedrich August II, Prince Elector of Saxony.
To date, it was known that the same group had been modelled in 1765 with a portrait of August III. It had been assumed for many years that this portrait depicted the eighth child of Maria Josepha and August, Franz Xaver, Dresden 1730-1806 Zabelitz, Prince of Saxony and Poland, Count von der Lausitz and from 1763 until 1768, regent of the Electorate of Saxony, and had been given to him on his name day on 3.12.1765. In fact, research on this group demonstrated that this long-held view is an error. The sitter of this very finely painted portrait with her modest clothing on a pink ground, does not depict Franz Xaver, but instead his mother, Maria Josepha of Austria.

Maria Josepha Benedikta Antonia Theresia Xaveria Philippine of Austria, Vienna 8.12.1699-17.11.1757 Dresden, was Archduchess of Austria from the House of Habsburg. She was the eldest daughter of Emperor Josef I and Princess Amalie Wilhelmine of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Through her marriage with Friedrich August II and III she became the Electress of Saxony and Queen of Poland from 1733. She gave birth to 15 offspring, and was very involved in the education of the 11 surviving children.
The coat-of-arms is a variant of the Electoral Saxon coat-of-arms as it was used from the early 17th century. The coat-of-arms: escutcheon, quartered: compartment 1: Duchy of Saxony; divided nine times in black and gold, above which a green diagonal lozenge-shaped wreath. Compartment 2: Landgraviate of Thuringia; in blue a golden, crowned, armed lion rampant, divided seven times in silver and red. Compartment 3: Duchy of Jülich; in gold a black lion rampant, armed in silver. Compartment 4: Duchy of Kleve: in red with a silver shield and gold escarbuncle. Heart shield: two crossed red swords in compartment divided in black and silver, Electoral sword symbol of the office of Arch-Marshall (Archimareschallus), which was conferred upon the Elector of Saxony in 1356 with the Golden Bull. Above the shield, the Electoral Hat of the Holy Roman Empire. Lit.: Die Arbeitsberichte des Meissener Porzellanmodelleurs Johann Joachim Kaendler 1706–1775, Leipzig 2002, p. 152–153; Berling, Das Meissener Porzellan und seine Geschichte, ill. no. 134, p. 67; Auktionshaus Bergmann, Meissener Figuren, model numbers A1-Z99, Erlangen 2014, p. 145, cat. no. 276;

Johann Joachim Kändler, Fischbach near Dresden 1706–1775 Meissen, from around 1723 trained as a sculptor under Benjamin Thomae in Dresden, and thanks to his virtuosity, he was hired to design the sculptural elements of the rooms at the Grünen Gewölbe. In 1730, appointed as court sculptor to August II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland; between 1731–1775 modeller at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, from 1733 model master, from 1740 director of the sculpture department, from 1741 arcanist, from 1749 court commissioner. From 1750 he was active in Paris.
In Dresden, he was employed to decorate the palace of porcelain, commissioned by the king, the Japanese Palace. He executed very lively, dynamic animal sculptures, and in doing so he was able to master several difficulties integral to the task. He concerned himself with the development of European dining culture, such as the ‘Swan Service’. He worked on monumental sculpture, such as the over-life-size equestrian monument to August III, which it was, however, not possible to execute in porcelain. Following a career lasting 44 years, he was considered to be the artist who designed the typological language of forms for European porcelain. He became synonymous with independent European porcelain production.

Lit. cf.: Keramos, no. 208, April 2010, Samuel Wittwer, p. 60... “since Kändler had already executed an mountain of the muses with Apollo, Pegasus, the Muses and a figure of August III in 1774 for Count Brühl.”
Lit. cf.: VEB Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Meißner Porzellan von 1710 bis zur Gegenwart, exh. cat. MAK Wien;