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Here you see the entertaining counsellor Joseph Fröhlich in his carriage, drawn by two little pigs. His wooden pedestal is in fact a box for storing writing utensils. Counsellor Fröhlich seems not to know in which direction he should go. The little monkey, sitting on one of the pigs, looks just as indecisive. The road signs are certainly no help – pointing to places like Narrensdorf (the village of fools) and Saustall (the pigsty)! Perhaps Ausee offers a glimmer of hope: that was the region of Austria where Joseph Fröhlich was born.

In 1727 Fröhlich left his Austrian homeland and became August the Strong’s court conjurer. He could perform all kinds of magic, was cheeky, had a great sense of humour and was sometimes crude. With that combination of talents, he was the most successful entertainer at the Dresden court for more than thirty years.

A measure of his popularity is the fact that he was depicted by artists almost as frequently as the royal family. He was immortalised in porcelain and clay, in ivory, in etchings, on medallions and in paintings.

The scene on this writing case is the work of Johann Christoph Ludwig Lücke. The strangely-shaped carriage is made of precious ebony. Inside, you see the court conjurer wearing the traditional costume of the region from which he came – the Steiermark, in Austria. The only deviation is the jester’s cap with a bell on it. And he’s holding a conjurer’s bag in his left hand. The owl was Fröhlich’s heraldic beast: that’s why there’s one sitting on the carriage shaft. The ornamental handles on the doors really work. However, there’s a surprise for anyone who actually opens one of them. Fröhlich is sitting there with his trousers down! His carriage is a portable lavatory.