When I found this one the other day in Vermont it struck me as quite a fine little thing--I don't buy much porcelain but have had a few Herend animals and figures and it feels like that in the hand. A little research reveals that the most renowned maker of porcelain pugs is Meissen (Germany), most of them modeled after a series of pugs by the Meissen factory's chief modeler Johann Joachim Kaendler in 1740-1741. (Interestingly, it appears that one of the motives behind many of Kaendler’s commissions for pugs was an emblematic one for the Order of the Pug, a secret society modeled on Freemasonry; Pope Clement XII forbade Roman Catholics to join a Freemasons Lodge, and the Order of the Pug was a ruse to side-step his edict!) Anyway, I don't presume this pug is Meissen, but he was done very much in that manner, and I think captures the charm of a pug quite brilliantly.
2" t x 2" w x 1 5/16" d. Hand-painted porcelain. There is a bit of loss to the painting on the face--as documented in images that were taken with 3-4 times magnification. To the naked eye (at least mine) the paint loss is not particularly evident. No mark on him that I can see.
