Made of delicately modeled Meissen porcelain in a shape designed in the mid-18th century by master modeler Johann Joachim Kaendler, this egg cup is a delightful exercise in Baroque modestly intended to brighten your morning bite.

The "Indish Painting" is one of the manufactory's oldest designs, used to decorate their exquisite porcelain as early as 1720. The "Indisch" chinoiserie style, which was based on East Asian porcelain art, is brimming with symbolism while at the same time capturing the imaginary worlds of 18th century Europeans through stylized plants and animal figures. 

The delicate painting of this piece contains lines so fine that they would require infinite patience and brushes composed of a single hair to execute — one mistake and the entire piece would be ruined. Once completed, 24-carat gold was used to accent the rim and central details of this timeless pattern.

Strictly one-of-a-kind and subject to prior sale. In very good vintage condition. Egg Cup measures 3"H x 4.25" in diameter.

Learn More About European Porcelain

Seemingly available cheaply everywhere and taken for granted today, objects made out of porcelain were once rare and precious things to Europeans. Since the time of the Tang dynasty (618-907) only the Chinese knew the process of mixing ground petuntse (a type of low-iron volcanic stone) with kaolin (a hydrated aluminum silicate crystalline mineral clay), and firing at high temperatures to produce items prized for their strength, translucence, and pure white color. Porcelain was so associated with its origin, that the type of ceramic came to be known simply as “china.”

By the 13th century, porcelain imported from China was highly prized in the royal courts of Europe. The versatility and hardness of the material allowed for lighter, thinner, more elegant wares than did contemporary European pottery, but the lengthy and dangerous journey from China to Europe made these wares extravagantly expensive.

By the early 18th century most of Europe’s courts were attempting to copy China’s porcelain, but it was the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger who first succeeded in Meissen in 1708 under commission from the royal court of Saxony.

The German manufactories in Meissen and Dresden began production in 1710, and over the rest of the eighteenth century porcelain manufacture spread over the rest of Europe.