Elephant, Japan, Arita, Edo period (1603 - 1868), 1680 - 1700. Porcelain, painted in overglaze iron red, blue, black and gold. H. 29.5 cm, 28.5 cm L. PO 5677. Porcelain Collection. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden 2013

Minor characters beautiful ladies (Japanese bijin) are obtained from the Kakiemon numerous workshops, created for export animal figures. Shards of clay models for making figurines were excavated in Aka-e-machi. In this district the workshops for painting porcelain with overglaze colors were. Since it has been found during excavations in other furnaces no shards of figures, they were probably actually manufactured exclusively in Aka-e-machi. The porcelain elephant is of surprising vivacity: he has turned up the trunk to the right, his big eyes looking at the viewer, and with his mouth slightly open, he just seems to trumpet. His body is probably composed of two molded parts, since the stomach seam is visible. Legs, head and smaller parts such as the ears were made and attached separately. Also, the open mouth acted as a technical necessity: When firing could here air escaping. The elephant, especially the white, Buddhism plays a major role as a symbol of wisdom and as a mount of the Bodhisattva Fugen (Chinese Puxian, sankr. Samantabhadra). Elephants often appear in the painting and as decorative porcelain, with anatomical details were with the live animals often misrepresented due to lack of familiarity. (From: La maladie de porcelaine, East Asian Porcelain from the Collection of Augustus the Strong, Leipzig 2001, p 176)