escribed by contemporary writers
as being far superior to the porcelain of China, and so great was its
vogue between 1740 and 1750 that as many as 700 workmen--a large number
for those days--were employed, and the industry brought large profits as
well as great reputation to the Saxon court. Each year saw some fresh
departure from the original inspiration of the work, some fresh
innovation of European style in design. After 1730 the rude
reproductions of Chinese forms and decorations in white or blue and
white were replaced by imitations of the Imari porcelains, especially
those decorated in the style of Kakiemon. Here Meissen was running a
race with Chantilly in setting the fashion for the dainty decorations in
red and green and gold which spread in time to all the porcelain
factories of Europe. Gradually European _motifs_ became predominant. The
simple oriental forms were replaced by distinctively European shapes
with architectural mouldings, handles and feet. Instead of the dainty
Japanese patterns, we perceive the gradual introduction of "Rococo"
scroll-work (as interpreted by the Germans) to form a framework or
border for miniature-like paintings of landscapes, ruins,
figure-subjects, hunting scenes, &c., executed in the limited palette of
on-glaze colours then available. Further evidence of the departure from
oriental influence is to be found in the numerous "armorial" services
produced between 1730 and 1740; and at the same period we find the first
appearance of a style of decoration that has persisted to our own times,
as a means of passing off pieces with small flaws in body or glaze, by
hiding them among sprays of naturalistic flowers, with an occasional fly
or some other winged creature thrown with seeming artlessness over the
surface of the piece. This idea, though it seems to have been first used
at Meissen, was so useful to the potter that it became general, and a
device originally adopted to cover faults of manufacture was elevated
into a distinct style of decoration by later European factories (e.g.
Strassburg, Niederviller, &c.).

The talents of Kandler were applied in ambitious but unsatisfactory
attempts to produce life-sized figures of the twelve apostles, an
equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong of heroic proportions, and many
models of animals intended for the decoration of the Japanese palace at
Dresden. Many of these latter are to be seen in the Dresden Museum, and
create an unfavourable impre