A very rare Meissen Marcolini Period Porcelain Group of a country couple. He holds a goat playing a horn, a monkey below playing a flute. She holds a parrot on a ring perch. There are chips to extremities, the tree and branches, his hat, her coat tail, goats horn tip, ear and one leg, and monkeys foot, but lovely quality and needs tidying up. Crack to base made in manufacture. c1790. 19.5cm high Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich B???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????ttger continued von Tschirnhaus's work and brought this type of porcelain to the market, financed by Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. The production of porcelain in the royal factory at Meissen, near Dresden, started in 1710 and attracted artists and artisans to establish, arguably, the most famous porcelain manufacturer known throughout the world. Its signature logo, the crossed swords, was introduced in 1720 to protect its production; the mark of the swords is reportedly one of the oldest trademarks in existence. In English Dresden porcelain was once the usual term for these wares, especially the figures; this is because Meissen is geographically not far from Dresden which is the Saxon capital.