Frankenthal porcelain group of figures within a pagoda, modelled by Karl Gottleib Lück

Frankenthal factory, near Mannheim, Baden-Würrtemberg, Germany, around AD 1770

The Frankenthal factory was established in 1755 by Paul-Anton Hannong (1700-60), under the protection of the Elector Carl Theodor (1724-99). Paul-Anton had begun his career in his father's faience and porcelain factory in Strasbourg, and brought with him many of the most talented modellers, among them Lück (died 1775), who worked as a modeller at Frankenthal from 1766. The factory was left to his son Joseph Adam. In 1761 he was forced by debts to sell the factory to the Elector, who shared some of the brilliance of other contemporary members of the Wittelsbach family.

Frankenthal was one of the leading German factories specializing in figures, and produced over 800 different examples. Among these are groups in the Rococo style, a commedia dell'arte series, a 'Music Lesson' series, historical and mythological figures and a series of Oriental figures. This group of figures within a pagoda epitomizes the exuberance of the chinoiserie style that is well expressed in the inventiveness of the design, the delicate modelling of the figures and the refined enamelled colours.

E. Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German porcelain of the 18th c (London, Barrie and Jenkins, 1972)