NEW MOA P.A.R.

[NoType]

40 minutes ago, CBK said:

@NoType Appreciate the kind sentiment, and perhaps I could have used “simple” or “balanced” instead of “understated” (although to me the characterization holds).  Regarding the 888, I absolutely agree that incorporating Meissen Porcelain would have been a true delight.  I suspect, and this is pure speculation, that the brittle nature of porcelain precluded its use at the wall thickness required for the barrel and cap of the 888 edition while maintaining the ability to use the pen as intended.  The last thing Montblanc would want is to introduce a systemic risk of chips and cracks which were unrepairable.

@CBK Two Montblanc model lines are some of my favourites because they incorporate Meissen Porcelain: the 2003-2012 Annual Edition series (3 themed Classique fountain pens per annum: Classical Mythology, Venetian Carnival, Mythical Creatures), and the 2010 Black and White LeGrand fountain pens, the first version of the Masters for Meisterstück series.  Perhaps the large diameters of the barrel and cap of the Masters of Art Pierre-Auguste Renoir precluded porcelain’s use, but the 888 cap’s appliqué bearing the painted flower motif may have been possible to realise in porcelain.  One wonders why it was not.

[CBK]

15 minutes ago, NoType said:

@CBK Two Montblanc model lines are some of my favourites because they incorporate Meissen Porcelain: the 2003-2012 Annual Edition series (3 themed Classique fountain pens per annum: Classical Mythology, Venetian Carnival, Mythical Creatures), and the 2010 Black and White LeGrand fountain pens, the first version of the Masters for Meisterstück series.  Perhaps the large diameters of the barrel and cap of the Masters of Art Pierre-Auguste Renoir precluded porcelain’s use, but the 888 cap’s appliqué bearing the painted flower motif may have been possible to realise in porcelain.  One wonders why it was not.

@NoType I agree, the cap appliqué would have been the perfect place to include that meaningful detail.  It is a shame it wasn’t.

[NoType]

1 hour ago, CBK said:

@NoType I agree, the cap appliqué would have been the perfect place to include that meaningful detail.  It is a shame it wasn’t.

@CBK Indeed.  It brings to mind the rumours more than a decade ago that Meissen Porcelain’s inability to complete the contract for 300 black porcelain* LeGrand fountain pens of the 2010 Masters for Meisterstück Black and White, due to recurring structural failures of the black porcelain (fewer than 15 black pens were reportedly completed), led to a falling out with Montblanc, and thus the working relationship between the maisons apparently came to an end in 2012.  

 

Until then, several limited edition pens sharing the same “chassis” had incorporated Meissen porcelain, such as the 2000 Asia Edition Year of the Golden Dragon 888, the 2001 Asia Edition Sakura 333, the 2001 Patron of Art Marquise de Pompadour 4810 & 888, and several years of Max Reinhardt 3-pen sets raising funds for the Salzburg Festival, including even the 2005 Salzburg Festival Young Directors Award 1 of 1 pen awarded to Sebastijan Horvat for his production “Alamut” (a drama adaptation by an ensemble of the Slovene National Theatre of Vladimir Bartol’s 1938 novel on radical Islam and political manipulation).  The diameter of the barrels and caps of these pens is larger than that of LeGrand pens, but crucially, all these pens were created with white, not black, porcelain.  

 

Given the substantial collaboration between Meissen Porcelain and Montblanc before 2012, it seems odd that Montblanc did not contract Meissen Porcelain for the MoA Renoir 888, not even for the cap’s appliqué, unless the rumours of the degradation of the relationship between the two maisons are actually based in fact.

 

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* These black LeGrand pens marked the first time Meissen Porcelain had created black porcelain of those dimensions.