Link only available on sub pages

The decorative fireplace was made by the court jeweller Johann Christian Neuber in 1728 – when the core of the Green Vault collection had long been in place. It was originally intended to be a gift to the son of Catherine the Great of Russia, the man who was to become Tsar Paul the First.  But the Russian heir apparent did not come to Dresden on his European tour as planned, and so the fireplace was installed in the Green Vault.

Presumably, it was never intended to be used. Its purpose was to display Saxony’s riches – its mineral wealth, as well as its technical and artistic excellence.

During the Second World War, the original fireplace was destroyed. What you see here is a sketchy reconstruction, incorporating remnants of the original. The moveable parts, such as the mantelpiece fittings and the figures of Vulcan’s smithy, could be put into storage during the war, so they survived. But the porcelain structure was destroyed by fire when Dresden was bombed in February 1945.  The museum guide of 1921 describes how it originally looked:

The most important parts of the fireplace are constructed out of Meissen porcelain. The ring of the hearth is decorated with a wreath of oak-leaves, the eagle above it is crowned with a laurel wreath. These two elements, like the five richly gilded vases in the popular neo-classical style of the time, are all made of glazed porcelain. So are the flat surfaces and ledges of the architectural superstructure, as well as the garlands on the upper corner-pieces. The rings decorated with rosettes and the Medusa heads on the corner-pieces, as well as the frieze depicting two sacrificial scenes, the three oval reliefs and the two winged genies of the middle structure were all in so-called biscuit, or unglazed porcelain.

Replicas of the gemstones missing from the superstructure since the war were cut and mounted in Idar-Oberstein, where the German Museum of Precious Stones is also located. The lower structure, however, is just temporary. There are plans to replace the missing porcelain parts. However, it will take some time before the fireplace is completely restored to its former glory.