Meissen - Porcelain Figurine Set “apollo And Daphne”

Meissen porcelain group from the "Apollo and Daphne" mythological series, created by Christian Gottlieb Jüchtzer in 1786. It is inspired by the marble sculpture by Bernini (1598–1680) housed in the Galleria Borghese, which was created based on the account in Ovid's *Metamorphoses*. It bears the blue crossed-swords mark—with a line cutting through it—and the repairer's number 76. The piece emerged from the kiln with a firing flaw in the base; rather than destroying it, the Meissen manufactory ground down the area, creating the visible horizontal line. Model number I 9. Listed in the Meissen catalogue (Bergmann). The Myth: Apollo mocks Eros's archery skills; to punish him, Eros shoots two arrows. The golden arrow strikes Apollo, inspiring a mad love for Daphne, while the lead arrow causes the nymph to loathe love. Apollo pursues Daphne relentlessly; exhausted and refusing to submit to the god's advances, Daphne implores her father, Peneus, for help. He transforms her into a laurel tree—a tree Apollo would adopt as one of his primary symbols.