Antique Collecting: Pottery And Porcelain

Antique Collecting: Pottery And Porcelain

Continental porcelain

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The Seven Years War from 1756 to 1763 saw the end of the most important and prolific period of Dresden, and although new models were introduced continuously afterwards none capture the brilliance of the earlier years. Randier died in 1775, when the factory was under the direction of Count Camillo Marcolini; whose name is given to the period 1774 to 1814, when he was the government minister responsible for the factory.

Dresden china was copied not only in the countries where it was imported but the factory re-issued the same models again and again. The composition of the body and glaze has changed little, but new colours have been introduced from time to time. It is these, together with the quality of painting and the finish of the porcelain, that distinguish old from new.

From the year 1713, when examples of Dresden white porcelain were exhibited at the Leipzig Easter Fair, a bid was made to capture markets throughout Europe. Saxony badly needed money, which was why Bottger had been endeavouring in the first place to make gold, and the export of porcelain was to be the means of providing it. The policy was successful until the Seven Years War upset progress, but by that date almost every country had its own manufactories, and once the German works had loosed its grip it was never regained.

It was due to the activities of a small number of Arcanists, men who knew or professed to know the secrets of porcelain-manufacture, that other factories came into being following the success of Dresden. These men offered their knowledge and services where they thought it would pay them best, and in spite of the strictest precautions to prevent their defection. The first to benefit was Vienna in Austria.

All these marks are in underglaze blue.

Other factories in Germany were founded about the middle of the eighteenth century and each produced hard-paste wares of varying quality and interest.

They include:

Hochst, near Frankfort (West Germany)

The best-known figures are a series of children which are very carefully modelled and painted, and have been copied during the past hundred years in both porcelain and pottery. The factory mark, which has also been imitated, is a spoked wheel in blue or red.

Berlin

A wool-merchant named Wilhelm Wegely started a factory in 1752 but it was unsuccessful and closed five years later. In 1761 a further factory was opened by a financier named Gotzkowsky, it was bought by the King of Prussia, Frederick the Great, in 1763. Wares similar to, and in imitation of, Dresden were made but the china is colder in appearance and the colourings tend to be more vivid. In the nineteenth century the factory made copies of oil paintings in miniature on flat slabs of the ware, and also made lithophanes. These are panels of biscuit-ware stamped in intaglio so that they appear in light and shade when held against a window or light. The mark commonly found is a sceptre in underglaze blue, with or without the letters 'K.P.M.'.

Fiirstenburg, near Cassel (West Germany)

This factory was started in 1753, and after initial difficulties produced good quality wares of all types in the Dresden manner. Some outstanding figures were modelled by Simon Feilner, who had worked at Hochst, and a unique set of fifteen of these was sold in London in July 1960, for Ł15,000. The factory is still in operation. The mark is a script letter 'F' in blue, on modern pieces it has a crown above.

Nymphenburg, near Munich (West Germany)

Although all types of wares were made at this Bavarian factory, its name is linked with that of the Swiss-born modeller, Franz Anton Bustelli, who created a number of superb figures. Of all porcelain figures, English or Continental in origin, these, possessing both grace and action and with their soft and careful colouring are surely the most exciting and satisfying made anywhere. Bustelli's figures were made in the first instance between 1754 and 1763, but the moulds were re-used by the factory at a later date. The Nymphenburg works is still in operation. The principal mark is an impressed shield with diamond-shaped checks.

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