This small Billy Goat and other pieces like it served as table decoration for dinner parties. … There are a few documented ledger entries from the Meissen Manufactory that refer to little billy goats, but one in particular seems most applicable to the Snite Museum example. In June 1741, designer Johann Joachim Kändler recorded,"Einen kleinen Ziegenbock aufs Waaren Lager in Thon poussirt," A small billy goat fashioned out of clay in storage wares. And while there are a number of examples of small Meissen goat figurines, the Snite Museum’s piece is unique in that it is freestanding. This type of sculpture is much harder to construct, since the piece must possess an accurate center of equilibrium in order to stand. This is why most figures are supported by a base and tree stump- to balance the weight of the figure.

from Weisberg, A Taste for Porcelain: The Virginia A. Marten Collection of Decorative Arts (Notre Dame, 2014)