"This is the book on porcelain we have been waiting for. . . . A remarkable achievement."—Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes A sweeping cultural and economic history of porcelain, from the eighteenth century to the present Porcelain was invented in medieval China—but its secret recipe was first reproduced in Europe by an alchemist in the employ of the Saxon king Augustus the Strong. Saxony’s revered Meissen factory could not keep porcelain’s ingredients secret for long, however, and scores of Holy Roman princes quickly founded their own mercantile manufactories, soon to be rivaled by private entrepreneurs, eager to make not art but profits. As porcelain’s uses multiplied and its price plummeted, it lost much of its identity as aristocratic ornament, instead taking on a vast number of banal, yet even more culturally significant, roles. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it became essential to bourgeois dining, and also acquired new functions in insulator tubes, shell casings, and teeth. Weaving together the experiences of entrepreneurs and artisans, state bureaucrats and female consumers, chemists and peddlers, Porcelain traces the remarkable story of “white gold” from its origins as a princely luxury item to its fate in Germany’s cataclysmic twentieth century. For three hundred years, porcelain firms have come and gone, but the industry itself, at least until very recently, has endured. After Augustus, porcelain became a quintessentially German commodity, integral to provincial pride, artisanal industrial production, and a familial sense of home. Telling the story of porcelain’s transformation from coveted luxury to household necessity and flea market staple, Porcelain offers a fascinating alternative history of art, business, taste, and consumption in Central Europe.

Porcelain imported from China was the most highly coveted new medium in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-­century Europe. Its pure white color, translucency, and durability, as well as the delicacy of decoration, were impossible to achieve in European earthenware and stoneware. In response, European ceramic factories set out to discover the process of producing porcelain in the Chinese manner, with significant artistic, technical, and commercial ramifications for Britain and the Continent. Indeed, not only artisans, but kings, noble patrons, and entrepreneurs all joined in the quest, hoping to gain both prestige and profit from the enterprises they established. This beautifully illustrated volume showcases ninety works that span the late sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century and reflect the major currents of European porcelain production. Each work is illustrated with glorious new photography, accompanied by analysis and interpretation by one of the leading experts in European decorative arts. Among the wide range of porcelains selected are rare blue-and-white wares and figures from Italy, superb examples from the Meissen factory in Germany and the Sèvres factory in France, and ceramics produced by leading British eighteenth-century artisans. Taken together, they reveal why the Metropolitan Museum’s holdings in this field are among the finest in the world. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}

"This very thorough catalogue, with excellent footnotes and bibliography, firmly places the subject in its broadest context." --Apollo Covers approximately 95 pieces, representing Chelsea, Bow, Derby, Worcester, Chamberlain-Worcester, Caughley, Longton Hall, Spode, and Hilditch and Sons.

Offering visitors the most up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of Germany, this Fodor's Gold Guide contains information on lodgings, restaurants, and points of interest, and comes with a pullout map.

While imported Chinese porcelain had become a valuable commodity in Europe in the seventeenth century, local attempts to produce porcelain long remained unsuccessful. At last the secret of hard-paste porcelain was uncovered, and in 1710 the first European porcelain was manufactured in Saxony. Meissen porcelain, still manufactured today, soon ranked in value with silver and gold. This thorough and lavishly illustrated volume explores the early years of Meissen porcelain and how the princes of Saxony came to use highly prized porcelain pieces as diplomatic gifts for presentation to foreign courts. An eminent team of international contributors examines the trade of Meissen with other nations, from England to Russia. They also investigate the cultural ambience of the Dresden Court, varying tastes of the markets, the wide range of porcelain objects, and their designers and makers. Individual chapters are devoted to gifts to Denmark, other German courts, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, France, and other nations. For every Meissen collector or enthusiast, this book will be not only a treasured handbook but also a source of visual delight.