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Dresden’s Porcelain Collection A prince and his passion
Like his predecessors, August the Strong, Elector of Saxony (1694-1733), believed it was part of his royal duty to amass a universal collection of art in accordance with the ideals of the Renaissance. As a young man, his frequent visits to Austria, Italy, Spain and France laid the groundwork for his life-long interest in decorative and fine arts – a fascination which would border on obsession as Dresden grew into a center of Baroque art in the 18th century. August the Strong’s lavish court and grand architectural projects helped Dresden rise to both political and artistic prominence, establishing the city as a bustling center for central European life, his unwavering patronage of the arts making Dresden into a European center of the Baroque. Not only did the city’s grandiose architecture rise under his direction, his unceasing passion for porcelain made Saxony the birthplace of European porcelain. A secret revealed The history of Meissen porcelain is the stuff of legend. In a period when the Chinese and Japanese held the secret to producing porcelain – the durable yet dainty ceramic considered at the time to be more precious than gold – August the Strong set out to discover the hidden process. For over two hundred years, Europeans had unsuccessfully played alchemist to the Japanese and Chinese porcelain masters, until Johann Friedrich Böttger unearthed the recipe to cure August the Strong of his mad obsession with “white gold” – what he called his “Porcelain Sickness.” Meissen porcelain made no modest entrance in Europe. August the Strong’s commitment to finding the secret was so steadfast that he spent innumerable sums on ceramics from the Orient. When a 19-year old Böttger announced that he had discovered the secret, the prince imprisoned him, refining his experiment in a dungeon laboratory. Over the next four years, Böttger developed a formula that would set Saxony as the premier European capital of porcelain manufacturing. And while the first pieces to leave the factory reflected East Asian tastes and artistry, the Meissen artists soon developed their own inimitable style – a style that reflected the ornate drama of the Baroque period. The porcelain factory in Meissen began production of stoneware in 1710 and of porcelain in 1713. A process perfected
Animal figurines, statuettes, table settings – there were no limits to what could be created with Meissen porcelain. During his reign, August the Strong acquired nearly everything created in the Meissen porcelain factory, from replicas of Japanese and Chinese ceramics to red and brown stoneware and the signature Meissen collection. Some pieces, including life-size figures with realistic features, reached a level of technical mastery rarely matched. The factory remained a predominately princely venture until August the Strong’s death. The "porcelain sickness," apparently, was not genetic as patronage for the factory decreased under son August III. As royal support for the factory waned, Meissen porcelain met the fierce demand of an open market. Meissen porcelain at “The Glory of Baroque Dresden” exhibition The pieces of Meissen porcelain on exhibit in Jackson, Mississippi,
very much reflect the personal taste of August the Strong. Some include
his
personal collection of Chinese and Japanese master figurines and vessels,
while many others were produced in the earliest years of the factory.
From decorative to functional, each is made of the highest quality porcelain
and has survived almost 300 years – three centuries
during which the name Meissen has become synonymous with the highest
quality European porcelain in existence. Whether found on a family’s
table or in the royal collections in Dresden, the world’s fascination
with “white gold” continues today. |
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