Shortly after the remodelling of Moritzburg Castle as the country seat of August the Strong, a single-story pavilion was built just away by the architect Johann Christoph Knöffel. The pavilion's foundation was later used for the Chinese-style Little Pheasant Castle ("Fasanenschlösschen") in 1770. Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony had the pavilion built in the middle of the gardens. Johann Daniel Schade who had been the architect in charge of the royal building projects, received the commission for the Rococo design. Construction was completed about 1776.