An early 18th-century beer mug, albeit of fine workmanship, what stories can it tell? Perhaps it witnessed epic drinking at the court of Augustus the Strong, King of Saxony, whose monogram it bears, or... stories of love and passion? Augustus the Strong's passion was for alchemy, which instead of giving him mountains of riches gave him the recipe for porcelain, the white gold that spread from Saxony to Vienna, London and all the courts of Europe.
The silver mount that can be seen adorning the mug is a 19th-century addition. As the mark attests, it was commissioned by Prince Heinrich LXXII Reuss-Ebersdorf. He too experienced intense passion. In 1846, he had an affair with Lola Montez, an affair that lasted only a few days, with one of the most famous women of the 19th century.
Montez had a life as intense as it was short. Born in Ireland in 1821, she studied ballet in Paris and passing herself off as a Spanish dancer, frequented musicians and writers such as Liszt and Mérimée until she gained the protection of her father Alexandre Dumas, who made her join the corps de ballet at the Opéra. In 1847, after her liaison with Prince Reuss-Ebersdorf, Lola became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria who had to abdicate for her after a revolt broke out in the capital.
From Munich she fled to London and from there to the United States. In 1855, she went on tour to Australia where she scandalised the well-wishers by performing the disturbing 'spider dance'.
In 1859, she lived in New York where she lectured on women's rights and died of pneumonia during the freezing winter of 1861. Films have been made, books and songs written about her, corroborating her reputation now as a heroine of women's emancipation, now as an unscrupulous adventuress. Looking at this mug, we can imagine that Prince Reuss-Ebersdorf had the rim of the artefact decorated where, perhaps, the most scandalous lips of the 19th century rested, turning it into a souvenir d'amour.
- The work: Meissen mug, early 18th century, Poldi Pezzoli Museum Milan
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