By Ines Keane
The first thing to know about Meissen porcelain is that it began as a secret. The second is that the secret was kept in a castle.
According to Wikipedia, production began in 1710 in the Albrechtsburg, a late Gothic castle on a hill above the Elbe, next to Meissen Cathedral. The castle itself was built from 1471 to about 1495 under the master builder Arnold von Westfalen, and Wikipedia calls it the first German palace. On 6 June 1710 the porcelain manufactory began operations there, financed by Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony.
The experiments
Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, Wikipedia says. He died in October 1708 and Johann Friedrich Böttger carried the work on. The manufactory’s own site credits Böttger with the discovery of porcelain production that year and dates the founding of the “Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Manufactory” to a royal decree in 1710. Wikipedia describes the result as the first European hard-paste porcelain, with wares put on the market in 1713.
Colour and the swords
Johann Gregor Höroldt became director in 1720 and, according to Wikipedia, introduced brilliant overglaze colours in 1723. Johann Joachim Kaendler became chief modeller in 1733 and served until his death in 1775.
The crossed swords are the mark everybody knows. Our sources give two dates. Wikipedia says the mark was introduced in 1720 to protect production and used consistently after 1731 by official decree. The manufactory’s visitor site says the crossed swords trademark in cobalt blue was adopted in 1722. We do not choose between them.
The pattern that anyone may use
The Blue Onion pattern was, in Wikipedia’s words, effectively designed by Höroldt in 1739, and has been in production for close to three centuries. A 1926 German Supreme Court ruling found it to be in the public domain. So a blue onion plate does not by itself prove it came from Meissen. Look for the mark.
From castle to valley
Wikipedia says the manufactory moved out of the castle in the mid-nineteenth century. The manufactory says it relocated to Meissen’s Triebischtal from the beginning of the 1860s and operates at a single production site. Between 1864 and 1870 the old factory buildings were removed from the Albrechtsburg and the castle was rebuilt. At the end of the nineteenth century, Wikipedia adds, the castle was opened to the public. It is now a museum.
Since 1991 the factory has operated as Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH, and it is owned by the Free State of Saxony.
What the manufactory says about itself
The following comes from the maker’s own pages, so read it as a claim and not an audit. It says the manufactory sources kaolin from its own mine near the city, that its paint laboratory maintains about 10,000 porcelain colours, and that training as a painter or shaper takes over three years, with master certification requiring many years more. The visitor site describes a collection of about 700,000 historic models and plaster moulds, and the manufactory calls its archive the world’s oldest and most comprehensive of its kind.
Visiting
The visitor site lists a behind-the-scenes tour on Fridays at 10 a.m., covering shops such as how the kaolin is won and how porcelain paste is made, plus a museum, creative workshops and a café. Dates and prices change, so check the current page before you plan a day around it.
The Albrechtsburg is a separate visit. We have not confirmed its opening times.
What to ask
If you hold a piece, turn it over and find the mark. Then ask what was painted by hand and what was printed. Ask which colours were used, and whether the shape is from the historic model archive. These are the questions the people behind the counter can answer, if the piece is what it claims to be.
We have not profiled makers in Meissen and will not name any we cannot source. A place like this is a good argument for learning before buying: roam first, shop later.