Michel Victor Acier

Acier was brought to the Meissen Porcelain factory from France in an effort to revive the factory's export trade after the Seven Years War by introducing current French designs to their porcelain. Acier became joint Modellmeister at Meissen with Johann Joachim Kändler after 1764. Acier's work, very different from Kändler's, is sentimental and occasionally moralizing. He is noted for having introduced lacework to porcelain.

Acier was recruited from France at the age of 28, but he demanded 50% higher pay and free room at Meissen factory in Germany. He was a model master at Meissen from 1764-1781. He worked with Kaendler who was chief model master and hostility developed between them as Kaendler became bitter over the court's preference for Acier's work. Acier typically combined neo-classical ideas with moralizing and sentimentality, typified by this group "Broken Eggs" and it's partner "Broken Bridge" (2.6.50), originally made in 1777. (Rontgen p154, Bowyer p30).