14 Facts About Meissen porcelain

Dresden Meissen porcelain was once the usual term for these wares, until the decided in favour of the Saxon Porcelain Manufactory Dresden, which alone was then allowed to use the name Dresden Porcelain.

Meissen porcelain is one of the world's leading porcelain manufacturers and one of the oldest and most internationally known German luxury brands.

Chinese Meissen porcelain had gradually developed over centuries, and by the seventeenth century both Chinese and Japanese export Meissen porcelain were imported to Europe on a large scale by the Dutch East India Company and its equivalents in other countries.

Thus, for a few years, Meissen retained its monopoly on the production of hard-paste porcelain in Europe.

Meissen porcelain's assistant was Johann Joachim Kaendler; in 1733 Kirchner resigned, and Kaendler took over as chief modeller, remaining in place until his death in 1775, and becoming the most famous of the Meissen modellers.

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Under his direction Meissen porcelain produced the series of small figurines, which brought out the best of the new material.

Meissen porcelain's work resulted in the production of exquisite figurines in the rococo style that influenced porcelain making in all of Europe.

Meissen porcelain was supported by assistants like Johann Friedrich Eberlein and Peter Reinecke.

Meissen porcelain wares were slightly reduced in quality, and considerably in quantity during this period, as both Austria and Prussia banned imports, and Britain, France and Russia placed high tariffs on imports - all now had their own industries to protect.

Some appealing work in the Art Nouveau style was produced, but Meissen porcelain's mainstay continued to be the constant production of revived eighteenth-century models.

The danger was that Meissen porcelain would become a factory merely producing for the masses.

The Meissen repertoire had a huge influence on other European porcelain factories, and the porcelain figure is a defining object for the Rococo.

At the beginning the Meissen porcelain manufactory was owned by the King of Saxony; by 1830 it came to belong to the State of Saxony.

Rarity and expense of Meissen porcelain meant that originally it could be bought only by the upper classes; this gradually changed over the 19th century.