The European Porcelain

The beautiful and delicate porcelains of China and Japan were taken to Europe after the
opening of trade with Asia. They created such an intense fashion for fine porcelain with
the ruling classes that it was called a "china mania." Kings vied with each other in
attempts to discover the secret of true porcelain jealously guarded by the Asians. The
nobility were no longer satisfied with vessels of opaque earthenware, and even gold and
silver services gave way to the more highly prized porcelains.
As early as 1580 Francesco de' Medici had manufactured in Florence a ware with a
translucent body called porcelain. This was not the true Chinese porcelain but a softpaste porcelain made of various mixtures of white firing clay and glass, or frit. The
manufacture of this soft-paste porcelain spread through France, Italy, and England until
it was finally displaced by true, or hard-paste, porcelain, whose secret of manufacture
became known in Europe.
Augustus II the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, wanted to make porcelain
in Saxony and thus put an end to the spending of large sums of money for Chinese
porcelains. He had in his employ a young alchemist, Johann Friedrich Bottger. Augustus
was convinced that Bottger would be able to bring him great wealth if he knew or could
find the secret of turning base metals into gold. He had Bottger held as a virtual
prisoner while he paid him for his work. When Bottger failed, the king's patience was
exhausted. He had him imprisoned in a fortress at Meissen, near Dresden.
There in 1706 Count von Tschirnhaus, a Saxon nobleman, got the king's permission to
have Bottger help him. Bottger soon developed a red stoneware so hard it could only be
cut on the jeweler's wheel. About this time a true kaolin, such as that used by the
Chinese, was discovered in Saxony. In 1709 Bottger developed--independently of the
Chinese--a true hard porcelain with this clay. From this discovery grew the great
Meissen porcelain factory, often known as Dresden, which had an unbroken existence to
World War II. At first the valuable secret was guarded carefully at Meissen. In 1718 a
runaway workman carried the formula to Vienna. There its manufacture flourished
under a great manager, Claude du Paquier, who was responsible for much fine porcelain
in the baroque style. Other factories for the manufacture of hard paste soon were
sponsored by various German rulers. Among them were factories in Berlin, Hochst,
Frankenthal, Nymphenburg, Ludwigsburg, and Furstenberg.
Modeling of porcelain figures became a fine art in 18th-century Germany. Of particular
significance is the work of Johann Joachim Kandler at Meissen, Franz Anton Bustelli at
Nymphenburg, and Johann Peter Melchior at Hochst. Bustelli figures rank with the most
valuable of all ceramic art works. The little figures of children molded by Melchior are
among the most delightful examples of the potter's art.
In the meantime soft-paste porcelain factories had sprung up in France, Italy, and
England. Principal among the French factories were St-Cloud, Vincennes, Sevres,
Chantilly, and Mennecy-Villeroy. Vincennes and its successor Sevres were under the
personal patronage of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV. Other French porcelain
factories were subsidized by lesser nobles. For a time none but the royal factory could
make use of gold in decoration.
Madame de Pompadour was a patroness of the royal factory. For her the factory created
beautiful and naturalistic porcelain flowers mounted on branches of bronze. The
magnificent and often ornate creations of the Vincennes and Sevres artisans in soft-

paste porcelain reflect the splendor of the French royal court of the rococo period. The
Sevres factory produced hard-paste porcelain beginning in 1769, when the secrets of its
manufacture became known in France. The factory continued to turn out soft-paste
porcelain until 1800.
In Italy soft-paste porcelain was made by the Doccia, Venice, Capo di Monte, and other
factories. Capo di Monte was started in 1743 by Charles III, king of Naples. It was
moved to Madrid in 1759 when Charles ascended the throne of Spain. There it was
known as Buen Retiro. Genuine Capo di Monte porcelain is extremely rare. The ornate
wares with designs in low relief falsely called Capo di Monte are poor imitations made in
Italy and France from the 18th century until modern times.
Excellent hard-paste porcelain was made at Copenhagen, Denmark, during the last
quarter of the 18th century. The royal factory executed the Flora Danica service for
Catherine the Great of Russia. It was probably the most famous and most elaborate
dinner service ever made. Work on it was started in 1789 and not finished until 1802.
This service, numbering 1,602 pieces, was decorated exclusively with Danish botanical
subjects. In the second half of the 18th century, both faience and soft-paste porcelain
were made at Marieberg, Sweden.
These continental factories were usually sponsored by kings and nobles. In England the
development of porcelain was left to private enterprise. Probably the first English softpaste porcelain factory was one founded at Chelsea in about 1745. It grew to
prominence under Nicholas Sprimont, a French silversmith. From its start until its close
in 1769, the Chelsea factory, catering to the tastes of the nobility, produced some of
the most valuable porcelains of all time.
Other factories--such as Bow, Derby, Longton Hall, and Lowestoft--made both
ornamental and useful wares. Many fine figures were made at Bow, Derby, and Longton
Hall. Many figures of biscuit, or unglazed porcelain, were made at Derby in the late
1700s and the 1800s. The best works in this medium, however, were the soft-paste
porcelain figures, groups, and busts done at Sevres.
English Lowestoft is not to be confused with the vast amount of Chinese porcelain
brought to America and Great Britain in the late 1700s and early 1800s. This is
sometimes wrongly identified as Lowestoft. Porcelain made in China for export to
Europe and America is often erroneously called Oriental Lowestoft. This porcelain,
usually distinguishable by a grayish glaze, is properly known as Chinese export
porcelain.
Elaborate and handsome dinner services were made at the Worcester factory founded
by Dr. John Wall in 1751. This factory also produced fine ornamental pieces. Vases and
other objects of Worcester porcelain decorated by Jeffrey Hamet O'Neal and John
Donaldson are considered great works of the potter's art. The art of transfer printing on
porcelain was developed by Robert Hancock of Worcester. When utilitarian china was
mass produced in the 1800s, hand decoration was displaced by transfer printing.
The soft-paste bodies made by these factories were impractical because of their inability
to withstand extremes of heat and cold and because of the high waste caused by
warping in the kilns. The first true porcelain factory in England was founded at Plymouth
in 1768 by William Cookworthy. It was transferred to Bristol in 1770 by Richard
Champion. Most makers of fine English porcelain did not remain in business long, and
only one or two lasted beyond the end of the century. Some delicate soft-paste
porcelain was made in Wales at Nantgarw and Swansea early in the 1800s. By then
porcelain had declined as a fine art, giving way to mass production.

Although bone ash had been used as a soft-paste porcelain ingredient at Bow many
years before, Josiah Spode the younger developed the first English bone-china body.
The firm of Copeland & Garrett took over the pottery operated by three generations of
Josiah Spodes. About 1845 it developed a body known as Parian porcelain that
resembled white marble. It contained kaolin, feldspar, ball clay, and flint glass. This was
an improvement on the old biscuit, or unglazed porcelain, for figure modeling.
Productions in Parian ware, however, have little artistic merit.
Modern European pottery and porcelain is no longer a handcraft, except for some very
expensive one-of-a-kind pieces. Nevertheless it has maintained a high standard of
quality. The fine porcelains of the Copenhagen factories and the Belleek factory in
Northern Ireland are especially noteworthy. Belleek ware is eggshell thin, with a highly
translucent body and a soft, ivory-colored lustrous glaze.