Clothing
+ Fashion
Jewelry +
Watches
Home +
Furniture
 Pottery 
+ Glass
Art +
 Photos 
Paper +
  Books  
Music +
Movies
Toys +
Games
Sports +
Outdoors
Ads +
  Signs  
Eras +
Themes

Johann Friedrich Böttger, the father of Meissen porcelain, was a hard-drinking alchemist who moved from European court to European court in a vain attempt to turn lead into gold for his royal sponsors. His final failure was in the eastern part of present-day Germany, where Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, locked him in a laboratory until Böttger replicated the king’s other passion, Chinese porcelain.

According to Böttger’s kiln records, on January 15, 1708, after a 12-hour firing, the firs...

Augustus was so taken with Böttger’s breakthrough that in 1710 he established the Royal Saxon Porcelain Manufactory in Meissen, just outside Dresden. Böttger had replicated the Chinese clay body, but it would take Meissen potters and painters (among them Johann Gregor Höroldt) a few more years to bring the glazes up to the king’s high standards. By the time of his death in 1733, Augustus had commissioned more than 35,000 porcelain pieces for his showplace “Japanese Palace” in Dresden.

Böttger was the Meissen factory’s first modeler until his death in 1719. Johann Gottlieb Kirchner joined the factory from 1727 until 1733, and made many of 1:1 scale animals for Augustus’s menagerie at the Palace — 597 animals and birds were envisioned, but only 458 were produced when the project was abandoned in 1739. More important than what Kirchner made was the person he mentored: Johann Joachim Kändler, who began his career in Meissen in 1731 and remained for 40 years.

Kändler is considered one of the most important ceramists of the 18th century, as are his Meissen assistants (Johann Friedrich Eberlein and Peter Reinicke being two of the most renowned). Their output was prodigious: Kändler alone is thought to have created more than 1,000 different figures or groups of figures, from swans to stags to squirrels.

One of the most collected series from this period was the Affenkapelle, or monkey band, consisting of 21 monkey musicians and a conductor. These were prized by collectors, as were Meissen figures of harlequins, dwarves, and hunchbacks. Other series focused on seasons, continents, dancers, and tradesmen.

Of course, Meissen dinnerware was also produced in dizzying arrays of plates and bowls and drinking vessels, each stamped with the factory’s famous crossed-swords mark on its base. Floral patterns copied from Chinese porcelain were favored, as were patterns using indigenous German flowers. The names of each service generally took its name from the predominant pattern. Thus the Yellow Lion and Red Dragon services for Augustus, or the Swan service for Count von Bruhl, who became the director of the factory in 1733.

The Seven Years’ War in 1756 ended the golden age of Meissen porcelain. The factory’s kilns were destroyed and just about all of its almost 600 workers fled. Frederick the Great of Prussia, who occupied Dresden during the war, tried to revive the factory by leasing it to an entrepreneur, who rebuilt the kilns and sold most of the factory’s wares to Frederick himself.

After the war and during the factory’s Marcolini years, 1774 to 1815, Meissen porcelain began to have more in common with French Sèvres porcelain. As for the style, it was less exuberant, conforming more to the prevailing Neo-Classic aesthetic than the quirky interests of a monarch like Augustus or the formidable talents of artists like Kändler and Höroldt.

Key terms for Antique Meissen China:

Hard-paste porcelain: A type of porcelain that is fired hot at 1400 degrees Celsius to produce a hard, white, and translucent body.

About our sources | Got something to add?

▼ Expand to read the full article ▼

Show & Tell - Share Your Stuff!

» See all Meissen Show & Tells

Interviews & Articles

Early Dresden Porcelain

When around 1710 the Saxon Court alchemist, Johann Friedrich Boettger, instead of finding gold, discovered the method of making po… [more]

An Interview With Howard Coutts, Ceramics Curator Of The Bowes Museum

I’m the curator of the ceramics bit of the Bowes Museum. It’s a big museum with 30 galleries of which three or four are devoted to… [more]



Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

The Bowes Museum: Ceramics

The Bowes Museum: Ceramics

This gallery showcases 2,130 of the 5,000 items in the museum's ceramics collection dating from 1500-1900. Include… [read review or visit site]

Ceramics at The V&A

Ceramics at The V&A

A great reference on ceramics from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Learn about different ceramics techniques and st… [read review or visit site]



Top eBay Auctions

Showing 60. See all 87 by  highest bidmost watchedcompleted
Fine Meissen Bacchus God Of Wine Group FigurineAntique Meissen Figural Group With Man,woman,goat,monkey Etc,2944?,a/f.Meissen Cherub FigurineLovely Meissen Porcelain Cobalt Tea Cup Andsaucer Dresden Germany Flowers Gold 101 Pc. Set Old Meissen # 3810 China Dinnerware By Tirschenreuth Ger. Exelant CoLot Of 12 Meissen Blue Onion Plates Various Sizes Cross SwordsMeissen Schneeballen Inkwell Canaries Egyptian Snowball With InsertAntique Meissen Figural Group Emblematic Of Science ! X Rare ! 19th C !! 19thc Meissen Hand Painted Boy With Flowers Figurine Meissen Putti Kpm German Porcelain Figurines .marked Large Antique 18c Meissen Fine Porcelain Lidded Box Nr!Antique Meissen "the Commedia Dell'arte" Harlequin Holding A Jug ! Nr ! X RareMeissen Teapot C1760 7" X 10"18thc Pair Rare Meissen Porcelain Candelabra Crossed Swords Designer KaendlerMeissen 19th Century Sherub With ArrowAntique Meissen FigurineSuperb Meissen Large Early Trembleuse Saucer Cup Flowers 1750 Zitter UntertasseSuperb Antique Meissen Porcelain Teapot C.186018th Century Meissen Cup & Saucer "tischenmuster" Pattern 5" Meissen Bird Figure - Sold As IsGreat Meissen Porcelain Cobalt Plate, Handpainted Dresden Germany City SceneAntique German Pair Of Porcelain Cupid Figurines Blue Crossed Marks ExquisiteAntique Parian Porcelain Figurine Napoleon Gilt Brass Base Dresden/saxonySmall Vintage Meissen Porcelain Wine Cooler Coaster Ice Bucket Blue OnionLovely White Porcelain Meissen Mid Century Art Moderne Tall VaseNr Superb ! Pair Meissen Cobalt Fruit Plates Plate Dish Lemon & Plum Meissen Porcelain Tea Pot With Flower Decoration C.1924 - 1934Fabulous Large Meissen Cobalt Blue VaseLovely Antique Meissen Blue Onion PlateMeissen China "fruit & Insects" Double SaltAntique Porcelain Figurine Kister Scheibe-alsbach Camargo Ballet Dancer 9" Meissen Pedestal Cake Plate Purple Indian Pattern Porcelain C1850-1900Meissen Woman Kpm German Porcelain Figurines .marked Pair Meissen Porcelain Figural Candle Holder Lamps Man And Woman 19thc "as Is" Vintage Germany Meissen Teapot Floral Green Figural Spout Mint! Meissen Porcelain Reticulated Bowl With Watteau SceneMeissen Old Imari Trinket Box 1710 ~ 1910 Mint Condition !Meissen Woman With Child Kpm German Porcelain Figurines .marked 18c Dresden Meissen Dot Period Floral Painted & Fluted Dinner Plate C1770Antique Meissen Crossed Swords Minature Blue Eyed Tabby Cat Figurine19c Dresden Meissen Augustus Rex Double Gourd Dog & Stag Hunting Vase 186019c Dresden Meissen Yellow Ground Watteau Lovers Painted Hair Pot Vase C1850Antique 19th Century Meissen Floral Encrusted SaucerSuperb Antique .. Meissen . `floral Pattern` Pierced-rim Plate C.1890Vintage Meissen " Flowers / Bugs Handpainted " Dinner Plate / Bowl 9 3/4 " Meissen Brown Rose Painted Cup & Saucer - 18th Century - BVintage Meissen Blue Onion Bowls Cross SwordsGerman Meissen Porcelain Egg Cup, Circa 1925, Blue And White, PerfectMeissen Gilded Cabinet Cup And Saucer - Date 1924 -1934Meissen Lattice Bowl. Very Good Condition. Diameter 25cm.Impeccable 19th Century Meissen Figurine Man With Basket19c Dresden Meissen Reticulated & Floral Spray Ribbon PlateRare Antique Meissen Blue & White Onion Pattern Cornucopia Vase No Reserve19c Dresden Meissen Reticulated & Floral Spray Ribbon PlateSuperb Pair Of Dresden / Meissen Bisque Gentleman & Lady Figurines. C1880.Antique 4 Piece Meissen Blue Onion Kitchen Utensil SetFive Vintage Meissen Blue Onion Small PlatesMeissen Aquatinta Alle Meine Entchen Ducks Gilded Porcelain Display Plate19c Dresden Meissen Augustus Rex Double Gourd Dog & Stag Hunting Vase 1860Antique Meissen German Porcelain Bacchus Cupid Cherub Nude Female Figurine Scene
»» Get our weekly Meissen China email



Right now on eBay