A large Meissen mythological group of The Three Fates, late 19th centuryA large Meissen mythological group of The Three Fates, late 19th centuryAfter the model by J.J. Kaendler, depicting Lachesis seated on the left, Clotho standing holding a spindle and attended by a putto in the centre, and Atropos reclining at the front with the winged figure of Cronos holding the scissors in her right hand and restraining her, on a high rockwork base on a flat-back bracket pedestal with moulded and gilt neo-classical borders, 37cm high (some old repairs and damage)Modelled by Kaendler in June 1774 as part of the "Great Russian Order" intended for the decoration of a cabinet in the Pavilion near the Bobsleigh Hills in the park of Oranienbaum Palace. According to Kaendler's work reports, the group was to symbolise the hope that the Czarina would have a ling life; see U. Pietsch, Meissen for the Czars (2004), cat. no. 174 and pp. 103-125, for a discussion of the gift to Catherine the Great.