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In mythologies of the Ancient Americas, dogs were believed to guide souls on their journey to the underworld. This function may explain why so many dog-shaped vessels, now called Colima Dogs, have been found in ancient burial sites throughout Mesoamerica. The hairless breed represented here, Xoloitzcuintli, safeguarded homes from evil spirits and intruders as well as acted as a guide in the afterlife.

Chinese Fo dogs developed from a conflation of lions and dogs, both of which appear in stories from the Buddhist and Taoist traditions. Large statues of Fo dogs frequently guard entrances to temples and shrines. They are usually made in pairs: the male dog with a globe under one paw represents Yang, or the masculine influence, while the female with nursing pup symbolizes the feminine Yin.

The Japanese shishi dog derives from the Chinese guardian lion-dog. As in China, they are often seen in pairs and are ascribed protective powers.

The preferred lap-dog of the nobility and a signifier of wealth and status, the pug also served as the symbol of the Mopsorden, or “Order of the Pug Dog.” This secret society was formed in 1739 in Vienna as a lighthearted response to a Papal Bull forbidding Catholics from becoming Freemasons. Progressive for the time, the Mopsorden admitted both men and women. The initiation ceremony required novices to kiss the backside of a pug, although ceramic models often replaced the real dogs.

The flower-like ornament on this puppy may derive from the use of the word “flowered” to describe dog markings in China and Japan. While scientists and physicians now acknowledge the health benefits of canine companionship, dogs have long been associated with a wide range of medical beliefs. In early China and Japan, physicians recommended holding a dog as a heated compress to an affected area to relieve cramps and muscle aches, the only supposed health benefit the animals could provide.

Scent bottles such as these next three pieces, became popular in the eighteenth century during a time when daily bathing was considered unhealthy. People believed that water permeating the skin could disrupt their physiological, mental, and emotional functions. Like pet keeping and porcelain collecting, scent became intertwined with conceptions of social status.

“Anybody who doesn’t know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.” - Franklin P. Jones

Both of these next two figures may have served as decoration for the dessert table. This hunting dog made at Meissen is characteristic of J. J. Kaendler’s style of carefully observed naturalism.

Rendered in puce, schwarzlot, and iron-red, Dog and Kennel exemplifies the type of porcelain created at the rival Du Paquier manufactory in Vienna. Du Paquier likely employed confectioners as model-makers, which may explain the figure’s caricature-like appearance.

These figures may have acted as cautionary warnings about certain types of people.
The foppish male, with his tailored jacket and stylish trousers, exudes gallantry, which eighteenth-century Europeans associated with dishonest men driven by
sexual conquest. The dog, widely known as a symbol of loyalty and fidelity, frightens
the libertine man in search of fleeting delights of the flesh. The companion figure of a young girl holding a mousetrap with a cat may represent the female equivalent, with the cat symbolizing the perils of female sexual desire.

While the luxuriating, wealthy woman with her over-indulged toy dog is an ancient and widespread stereotype, lap-dogs became the preferred pet of the nobility in eighteenth-century Europe. Meissen first manufactured Bolognese hounds in the 1730s, creating numerous variations. The version here has been so popular that it has been in nearly continuous production into the present day.

A playful take on the Homeric myth of Queen Penelope and the suitors who plotted to win her hand in Odysseus’s absence, this work is one of a small number that Ann Roberts has executed in porcelain. Both dogs and fish frequently appear in Roberts’ sculptural narratives and personify male/masculine characteristics. These dogs are predators: hunters in competition for Penelope’s hand in this modern reinterpretation that explores a popular theme in Greek literature, female guile versus male dominance.