MEISSEN PORCELAIN

It is not all unusual to hear the porcelain of Meissen spoken of as if it were all pretty much alike, guaranteed so to speak, by the famous crossed swords mark. Many fashions have come and gone during the history of Meissen, not all favorable to the art of porcelain, while the fortunes of the factory have varied from the greatest prosperity to a miserable following of other factories' styles and a wholesale revival of its own. It will be worthwhile, therefore, to define the period of the factory's best work and to describe some of its greatest artistic achievements, distinguishing them from the superficially similar work done later, both in the Meissen factory itself and elsewhere.

The greatest period belongs wholly to that time in the eighteenth century when porcelain was the subject of excited admiration in Europe. It was then hardly thought of as pottery at all, but a semi-precious substance of mysterious origin. Porcelain had been newly bought from China in quantity by the Dutch East Indies Company in the seventeenth century and before long, was being widely imitated in Europe. But, only superficial imitations in delftware and soft paste had been made before the early years of the eighteenth century when Johann Friedrich Bottger made his great discovery.

Botter was an alchemist working at Dresden in the service of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland around 1708-1709 when his fellow worker, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhausen, hit upon the right principle and materials for making a true hard-paste porcelain of Chinese type. As a result the great factory was founded at Meissen in 1710. Just before his death in 1719, runaway workmen managed to start two smaller rival factories in Vienna and Venice, but from this time onward the Meissen secret was so well guarded that there was no serious rival factory for nearly 40 years after the invention. Meissen kept its technical and creative lead in the world of German, and indeed all European, porcelain until the disaster of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763).

Saxony was then overrun by Frederick the Great and his Prussians, and the Meissen premises were occupied. The European leadership passed to the French national factory at Sevres, while Frederick's new Berlin factory aspired to supremacy in Germany. But it was in each case a barren lead, for porcelain by the quarter of the eighteenth century had lost much of it's novelty and glamor.

The world-wide neo-classical fashions of the late eighteenth century called for a new medium. This was found eventually in the unglazed jasper, basalt, and other stonewares made by Josiah Wedgwoood in England, and at Sevres and elsewhere in biscuit porcelain which renounced the special charm of the porcelain material in a vain imitation of marble. The neo-classical was in fact distinctly unfavorable to porcelain' its antique seriousness and symmetry were at ware with the frivolity and "modern fancies" of the essentially rococo porcelain.

The period of supreme achievement at Meissen thus dates from 1710 to 1756. It covers the periods of the late baroque with its often hard symmetry, and of the lighter asymmetrical rococo. The Seven Year War was a blank for the factory, apart what was done for Frederick, and from 1763 on it was trying, yet failed, to catch up with the French or lifelessly repeating its former successes. It sank to nothing in the time of the Napoleonic Wars, being occupied again by the invaders. An attempted revival in the later nineteenth century brought some prosperity again but it was a dubious success, for then were made the copies of the eighteenth-century models which the inexperienced collector of the day often mistakes for old.

Hallmarks:

A collector's task is therefore to distinguish the productions of the greatest period, lying between 1710 and 1776. First, as to marks. Until 1723 no factory mark was added to the porcelain, but the table wares of the early 1720's sometimes show an unexplained nick near the foot ring known in Germany as the Dallwitzer Nagel, after a collector who first called attention to the feature. The marks added to the ware from 1713 on give some help but need to be interpreted with caution.

The first of these, KPM (Konigliche Porzellan Manufaktur) dates from a year or two about 1723-1724, as does an imitation Chinese mark resembling the snake-entwined staff of Mercury. Both marks are comparatively rare. The the famous crossed swords, from the arms of Saxony, were introduced and have remained the regular factory mark from 1721 to present. A dot between the cross indicates a date in the "Academic Period" for the manufacture of the ware, but much defective ware made earlier was decorated in that period, when the factory badly needed funds.

A star between or below the cross indicates the "Marcolini Period" but a star sometimes appeared in the mark on the early and unimportant blue-painted porcelain. Between 1814-1914 the plain crossed swords were used again. Since 1924 a dot has been added between the cross points. The most famous of all marks of the great period, and one most outrageously abused by forgers, is the Augustus Rex monogram which indicates a date between 1725-1730.

Besides these mark, there are often, on early wares, gold letters and numerals of uncertain significance, and incised and impressed mold numbers which began to be regularly used not earlier than 1763, when an inventory was made.

But the mark on the ware (since it is under glaze blue) can only give the date of making of that actual porcelain, which may have been decorated much later. This was often the case indeed with the painting done outside of the factory. The Hausmalerei as it is called, is of great interest. One much-disputed class alone must be mentioned, with decoration often in gilding only, of chinoiseries. This was formerly mistaken for factory work but is now known to have been done in Augsburg about 1725-1735. These Augsburg-decorated pieces sometimes bear pale red "luster" marks, usually initial letters. The Hausmaler using Meissen porcelain were as a rule unable to secure any but outmoded and defective ware, and even that was obtained only surreptitiously. Eventually around 1760 to protect itself against loss of repute due to incompetent decorators, the factory began to "cancel" the mark on defective ware sold "in the white" by one or more cuts made on the glass-engravers wheel. Such a cancelled mark indicates that the piece was not decorated at the Meissen factory itself.

Other marks are sometimes mistaken for the Meissen swords. Some of these are the 18th century marks of other factories, intentionally written to resemble that of their famous rival. Such are the crossed swords and three dots of Weesp, the crossed L's of Limbach, the crossed hay-forks of Rudolstadt, and the crossed torches of the Paris factory of La Courtille. The W of Wallendorf and even the CV of Kloster Veilsdorf were sometimes made to resemble thw swords.

In modern times varous devices of crossed swords, or strokes occur along, or with D, or H, or T (for Carl Thimve of Pottschappel near Dresden), or S on French forgeries. Marks with the word Dresden or a crowned D are of course never Meissen marks but are quite often those of modern decorators, such as Wolfsohn. The A R mark occurs absurdly on modern cups and saucers with colored grounds in panels, alternating with "Watteau scenes" and the like.

Identifying style is far more important:

Far more important for the collector is a knowledge of period style and peculiarities. These can only be acquired by familiarity with genuine specimens. However, a few points of detail may be useful. First of all it must be stated that the type of decoration or the date of the model does not necessarily indicate the period in which a given piece was made. Some aspect of color or style will however generally be found to give away its later date. As to color, the characteristic strong red, yellow, blue, and black of the baroque style, and the paler colors of the rococo should be noted. The soft browns and pinks and pale and bright blues dates the piece after 1760. All are distinguishable from the pale, sickly pink and pale blue and yellowish green pervading the figures of the 19th century revival of the 18th century models.

The form of the base also varies with the period. The 19th and 20th century revivals are commonly on circular or oval pedestals with classical ovolo and other patterns on the edges. The applied flowers are more elaborate, and naturalistic and frilly lace-work has sometimes been added. However, none of these criteria can be regarded as being "infallible" or "rules of the thumb" and a specimen piece may be right in almost all the aspects mentioned and yet be a forgery. One of the most skillful forgers - - one who studied very closely the Dresden Royal Collection. Excellent and true in color though the painting is, there is a lax and flaccid quality in the brushwork, an insincerity it may almost be called, as well as a certain modern sentiment and grace, which must accuse it at once in the eyes of the discerning.

Information gathered and excerpts taken from an article in The Magazine ANTIQUES Circa 1946.


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