In the front, there is a curved base with a relief-decorated meander and band border. On a strongly relief-sculpted rock, adorned with shells, coins, ferns, and aquatic plants, sits a fully bearded and crowned elderly river god, with a floral-patterned, purple loin cloth as an allegory of the Volga, supporting his right arm on a baluster vase from which water flows along with shells and fish. On top of the vase, the crowned, rocaille-framed Polish-Lithuanian royal coat of arms with the Saxon coat of arms. In his right hand, he holds an oar with gold ornamentation, and in his left, he carries a cornucopia with sculpted flowers. Polychrome painting with gold staffage. Either Johann Joachim Kaendler, 1772. Model no. 235. Restored; sword mark. H. 32 cm. 35 cm x 19 cm. Magnificent representation of a figure group designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler from the so-called "Great Russian Order" for Empress Catherine II of Russia, known as Catherine the Great. The commission, consisting of numerous allegorical and mythological figures and figure groups, is the most extensive among all gifts and orders for the Tsar's court and serves to furnish the pavilion in the park of the Oranienbaum Palace, today Lomonosov. Johann Joachim Kaendler created the designs for all the models, and he was partially supported in their execution by Michel Victor Acier, who had been employed as a modeler at the Meissen Manufactory since 1764. Kaendler designed and modeled this group at the beginning of the order. As a counterpart, he also modeled the personification of the Dnieper in a mirrored composition as the main rivers of the Russian Empire, representing important trade routes, promising prosperity and wealth to the country. See Pietzsch, Meissen for the Tsars, p. 103, fig. 23. An early 20th-century allegorical porcelain figure group of the Volga from the "Great Russian Order" for Empress Catherine II of Russia, called Catherine the Great. Insignificantly restored. Crossed swords mark. Meissen. Early 20th century.