Porzellanfiguren als Spiegel politischer und gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche

This work is dedicated to the question of which motifs and creative tools in some porcelain figurines illustrate the political and social changes of the 18th century. In four case studies, the social transformation processes of the 18th century are illustrated by contextualising the porcelain figurines in various thematic areas of social and cultural life, such as gender roles and positions of power within the family and social constellations. A further focus is on satirical depictions. In the course of the Enlightenment debates, a relaxation of both the social barriers and the genre boundaries of art became apparent. In porcelain figurines, contemporary conditions were also illustrated by means of exaggerated satirical depictions and criticism of vicious or morally questionable behavior was presented carefully. In porcelain figurines inspired by literary and theatrical models, motifs are depicted that came from a fund of cultural knowledge, which people from different social classes discussed and thus appeared as participants in a new "bourgeois public". In this way, porcelain figures illustrate political and social transformation processes at the end of the 18th century for the viewer.