Being a trendsetter of a more refined lifestyle, Count Heinrich von Brühl (1700-1763), prime minister to the Saxon Elector and King of Poland Augustus III, coined the image of Meissen porcelain significantly. Under his influence, it became known as a status symbol, as a prestigious object, as a spectacular highlight of 18th century dining culture and as high-end table decoration. The so-called Dutch Village presents 24 miniature architectures from private collections that were designed by the master modeller Johann Joachim Kaendler and his colleagues Peter Reinicke and Johann Gottlieb Ehder starting in 1743 and converted into porcelain objects.
In the sequence of the festive menu, the dessert played a leading part. It challenged the court confectioners not so much culinarily, but more artistically. After the figurative table decoration, which had earlier been created from astragalus or sugar, was replaced by permanent figurines made of porcelain starting in 1730, this production branch of the Meissen Manufactory grew in importance.
For the first time in more than 250 years, the pavilions and porcelain figurines are to be staged on a contemporary dessert table as a “dessert de luxe”. Commission and design of the Dutch Village give proof of Count Heinrich von Brühl’s love for nature and rural life. A prototype of the so-called “ferm ornée” can be recognized that the English landscape architect Stephen Switzer (1682-1745) published in his publication in 1715. However, only after 1775 was it put into practice by Duke de Condé in the Hameaus in the park of the castle Chantilly and by Queen Marie Antoinette in the park of Versailles. Insofar, Heinrich von Brühl was ahead of his time. At the same time being the director of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, he and Johann Joachim Kaendler took great care in creating innovations on a high artistic level.
