Porcelain made at Meissen, near Dresden; the first factory in Europe to make true hard-paste porcelain. The secret was discovered in 1708 by Johann Friedrich Böttger (16821719). The factory, founded in 1710, was the most influential in Europe, and is still in production.
Meissen porcelain is the first European porcelain. However after his untimely death Johann Friedrich Böttger who continued his work has often been credited with the invention. The Meissen production of porcelain started in 1710 and attracted artists and artisans to establish one of the most famous porcelain manufacturers. The official name of the company is Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH.
Beginnings
The Chinese had mastered the production of porcelain for a long time, and by the 17th century oriental porcelain had become a valuable commodity in the China trade. Mostly provided by the Dutch East India Company imported porcelain from China and Japan represented wealth, importance, and refined taste in Europe while local attempts to produce porcelain, such as the brief experiment that produced "Medici porcelain" had met with failure.
At the beginning of the 18th century Johann Friedrich Böttger pretended he had solved the dream of the alchemists, to produce gold from worthless materials. At the same time, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, a mathematician and scientist, experimented with the manufacture of glass trying to make porcelain as well. When Tschirnhaus suddenly died, the recipe apparently was handed over to Böttger, who within one week announced to the Elector that he could make porcelain. Böttger refined the formula and with some dutch co-workers, experienced in baking and painting tiles, the stage was set for the manufacturing of porcelain. In 1709, the Elector declared the first Meissen manufactory, placed Böttger's laboratory at Albrechtsburg castle in Meissen and production started officially in 1710.
Early Work
The first type of porcelain produced by Böttger was a refined and extremely hard red stoneware known in Germany as Böttgersteinzeug. Meissen's production of hard paste white porcelain that could be glazed and painted soon followed, and were put on the market in 1713.
Böttger's experimental wares rapidly gained quality but never achieved successful painted and fired decor. Multicolor enamelled painting was introduced by Johann Gregorius Höroldt in 1723, with an increasingly broad palette of colors that marked the beginning of the classic phase of Meissen porcelain. The signature underglaze "Meissen Blue" was introduced by Friedrich August Köttig.
Famous trademark
The Albrechtsburg was utilized to protect the secrets of the manufacture of the “white gold”. As a further precaution, very few workers knew the special secret (arcanum) of how to make porcelain, and then perhaps only part of the process. Thus, for a few years, Meissen retained its monopoly on the production of hard paste porcelain in Europe. By 1760 about thirty porcelain manufacturers were operating in Europe, most of them, however, producing soft-paste porcelain.
In order to identify the original Meissen products, Meissen developed markings that initially were painted on, but soon fired in underglaze blue.
Artistic development
Augustus II charged first Johann Jakob Irminger with the design of new vessels. In 1720 Johann Gregorius Höroldt became the director and introduced brilliant colors which made Meissen porcelain famous. His assistant was Johann Joachim Kaendler who would become the most famous of the Meissen sculptors. Under his direction Meissen produced small series of figurines that often depicting scenes at the court that brought out the best of the new material. His menagerie of large-scale animals are some of the high points of European porcelain manufacture. His work resulted in the production of exquisite figurines in the rococo style that influenced porcelain making in all of Europe.
In 1756, during the Seven Years' War Prussian troops occupied Meissen, giving Frederick II of Prussia the opportunity to relocate some of the artisans and worker to establish KPM Berlin. With the changing tastes of the neoclassical period and the rise of Sèvres porcelain in the 1760s, Meissen had to readjust its production, and in the reorganization from 1763, when C.W.E.
In the 19th century Ernst August Leuteritz modernized many of the rococo figurines, and reissued them, creating a "Second Rococo" characterized by lacework details (the lace dipped in slip and fired) and applied flowers; Hösel also restored eighteenth century models.Some appealing work in the Art Nouveau style was produced, but Meissen's mainstay continued to be the constant production of revived eighteenth-century models.
After 1933, the artistic freedom of the artists became restricted by the State of Saxony in accordance with the contemporary indoctrination process in Germany. Ernst Barlach) who had contributed to Meissen were banned.
After World War II and under communist rule, the manufactory that had always catered to the rich and wealthy had some difficulty to find its way. The danger was that Meissen would become a factory merely producing for the masses. It was not until 1969 when Karl Petermann became the director that Meissen went back to focus on its old traditions and was also allowed a freer artistic expression.
Tableware patterns
Already Böttger foresaw the production of tableware, and the first sets were made in the 1720’s.
The Onion pattern has been in production for close to three centuries. The pattern was so popular and widespread that the German Supreme Court in 1926 ruled that the term Meissen Zwiebelmuster (Meissen Onion Pattern) was in the public domain.
Other popular patterns include the Purple Rose pattern and the Vine-leaf pattern.
Ownership
At the beginning the Meissen manufactory was owned by the King of Saxony; After World War II, most of the equipment was sent to the Soviet Union as part of war reparations. While its products are expensive, the high quality and artistic value make Meissen porcelain very desirable by collectors and connesseurs.
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