The Arnhold porcelain collection is the most important of the great pre-war Meissen collections to have survived intact, remaining with the descendants of the original collectors. Most of the pieces date from the first decades of the royal factory established by August II, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, in 1710, featuring a broad range of early works, much of it experimental. Most of the pieces in the Arnhold collection were bought by Heinrich and Lisa Arnhold from 1926-35, and most have royal or significant provenance.The collection was taken to America in the 1940s ahead of the family's move from Dresden. Since 1974 Henry Arnhold has continued to expand the depth and range of the collection. The volume also contains major essays by Sebastian Kuhn, who studies the wider trends in collecting European porcelain between 1900 and 1960 in Europe and America, and by Heike Biedermann, who studies the Arnholds as collectors of modern art in Dresden from their marriage in 1914 until 1935. The catalogue is introduced by a personal recollection by Henry Arnhold of his family as collectors and art patrons in Dresden and how the porcelain collection was created.
