Rebuilding the Meissen Fountain | Conservation | V&A

Acquired in 1870 with some pieces missing, here the Meissen Fountain is taken out of storage and rebuilt for the first time since being acquired by the V&A in 1870.
Upon discovering a 19th century porcelain copy of the fountain in Dresden, Germany, the missing pieces have been carefully 3D scanned and recreated.
Find out more about the object in Explore the Collections: collections.va...
See more ceramics in our collections: www.vam.ac.uk/...

[@jessicamorales2555]

impressive. the art brings the human best potential to work

[@projectwaveform]

Beautiful restoration & illustrations on the mechanisms!

[@douglasrandall8805]

As a goldsmith 50 years ago when lasers first came out we wondered what would it possibly be used for.

[@SuperMan-xy8ui]

Meissen maintains a mold archive of more than 700,000 moulds from over 300 years. I would assume that the original molds still exist because Meissen replacements for that fountain were produced between 1774 and 1815 and a nineteenth-century version of the central figure group was created?

[@maxdecarrier3733]

merveilleuse restauration....bravo

[@lexuinosirg5491]

A Masterpiece broken in peaces and then restored 😏

[@random22026]

Precisely. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🤜🏻🤛🏻

[@terriyoung4557]

It's beautiful I love it.

[@franzrogar]

You might create some clear-bluish resin with blinking LED illumination to mimic water on the fountain. That way, it might be more interesting and might help in ignoring the damages in the piece.

[@cristiandachelet165]

Wonderful

[@variegatus]

You've avoided the issue of real water in this fountain. Why? I'm also curious why the original is white while the copy is multi-colored. Nice video, Thanks.

[@henrylivingstone2971]

I’m pretty sure the copy is much smaller that’s why they decided to color it so that the details were more visible. And they didn’t want to use water considering it’s a museum and that would mean they would’ve had to hook up a pipe system which is difficult and expensive.

[@belleringr6377]

Brilliant

[@scottgray6276]

Is the pressing of slabs of clay into the mold where the term, "paste" comes from? I use the slip technique, and seeing "paste" on the labels of pieces in museums, that look like they are slip-cast in several pieces, then assembled before firing, made me wonder if there were more than one term for the same thing.

[@IrishAnnie]

I saw this in August, but some pieces were missing. Restoration perhaps?

[@buny4773]

I hoped they would restore it so it could play again

[@acey850]

Is it just a marvelous table sculpture or did it also function as a fountain?

[@angieCity90]

It seems that the original function was a mini fountain

[@acey850]

@@angieCity90 yes. I mean now that it's restored, can it still function as a fountain?

[@juanitobanana79]

@@acey850 No, because water is one of the agents that produces the most deterioration in the pieces (you can see in the video how he indicates that there are stains produced by water in the fountain). In addition, some pieces are fragmented and the fountain is no longer watertight: Water leaks could damage the restoration and the inner porcelain itself. It would have been interesting they had made a functional reproduction in resin to show it together with the original fountain and appreciate the beauty of running water.

[@makyeebon]

@@juanitobanana79 And it ran with rose water, must have been beautiful to see and smell the fragrance. Curious if this would have been a dessert table decoration as was the norm for porcelain at that time.

[@dutchessblackhawk732]

How did water run in this in 1870?

[@user-re6qs6pr5t]

Для русскоязычной аудитории сделайте пожалуйста с титрами.....

[@AA-xd9fg]

I came here for Supreme

[@boulderarchitect]

Ugh. Rich people...