Jointly written by Rebecca Klarner and Dr Matthew Martin (University of Melbourne). Rebecca is working on this project in her capacity as a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Researcher and this conference was part of her Student Development Fund Activity. The conference was generously supported by the French Porcelain Society.
Spectacular creations like Johann Joachim Kändler’s menagerie of life-size animals created for Augustus the Strong of Saxony have long been admired with astonishment and have captured attentions across the globe for centuries. So too have the delightful small-scale sculptures produced to adorn the dessert tables of formal court banquets.
However, an equally significant aspect of porcelain sculpture has so far not received the same level of scholarly interest, even though many of these objects represent some of the most sophisticated sculptural works ever produced by European factories: religious sculpture.
Reversing that neglect was one of the main aims of a one-day conference held at the V&A South Kensington in The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre on 30 September 2025. A series of eleven papers across three sessions explored various aspects of the phenomenon of religious sculpture in porcelain from across 18th-century Europe.
On a beautifully sunny London Autumn day, delegates were welcomed by the conference organisers Rebecca Klarner (University of Leeds/V&A) and Dr Matthew Martin (University of Melbourne) as well as by V&A Senior Curator for Ceramics and Glass, Reino Liefkes. Dr Julia Weber, Director of the Porcelain Collection of the State Art Collections in Dresden delivered an introduction to the subject and to the collections in Dresden, cradle of European porcelain.
Dr Matthew Martin suggested that porcelain came to hold a special significance in Counter-Reformation Europe, especially in contexts where the Jesuits exerted influence and this influenced the production of religious images in this material. Papers by Maureen Cassidy-Geiger (Independent scholar) and Rebecca Klarner presented detailed analyses of important religious and devotional images produced in Meissen porcelain for the Dresden court and its close political allies. Dr Claudia Lehner-Jobst (Augarten Museum, Vienna) considered the religious productions of the Du Paquier porcelain factory in Vienna and the Habsburg dynasty.
After lunch, conference attendees were treated to a fascinating object session with Dr Kira d’Alburquerque, V&A Senior Curator, Sculpture and Dr Simon Spier, Curator, Ceramics & Glass 1600-1800 in the Ceramics Study Room.
The lecture programme continued with Manuel von Aufschnaiter (University of Vienna) who analysed a rare example of a reliquary made in Vienna porcelain, placing it in its ecclesiastical and art historical context.
An important element in the program was a presentation by ceramic artist Julian Stair about his commission for the church of St Augustine in Hammersmith, London. This talk prompted reflection on the nature of historical commissions of sacred art and the interactions between patrons and artists who may hold differing confessional convictions, as well as the meanings conveyed by materials.
After a refreshment break, Errol Manners (dealer and independent scholar) discussed the religious sculpture created by Italian porcelain factories, noting the surprisingly limited scale of this production. On a related topic, Félix Zorzo (National Museums of Scotland) discussed religious sculpture produced at the Buen Retiro factory in Madrid, an enterprise that had its origins as the Capodimonte factory in Naples and which was transported in its entirety to Spain when the Bourbon King Charles of Naples inherited the Spanish throne. Finally, Susan Wager (University of New Hampshire, Durham) considered the commission of a porcelain holy water stoup by Madame de Pompadour from the Royal Sèvres factory, an object intended as a gift to the pope.
Conversations continued long after the lecture programme ended, and further outputs of this research project are planned. If you would like to watch the recording of the lectures, please click below.
