Meissen porcelain

1 - From 1694 to 1733, Elector Augustus the Strong ruled Saxony. He loved food and drink, collected valuable paintings, and had magnificent palaces and exhibition rooms built to show off his wealth. This was quite expensive, so Augustus, who was also King of Poland from 1697, was always looking for ways to raise money. 2 - He heard about a young apothecary’s apprentice named Johann Friedrich Böttger, who had supposedly managed to turn silver into gold. At the time, people were always trying to make gold. They were called alchemists. In reality, nobody has ever managed it. Böttger, too, probably used a trick and only pretended to turn silver into gold. 3 - Augustus the Strong ordered Böttger to be kidnapped and made to work for him. He hoped this would meet his enormous demand for gold and replenish the empty state coffers. In 1701, the young apothecary was taken to Dresden. Over the next few years, he lived as a prisoner in a laboratory, where he experimented and desperately tried to make gold. 4 - Other natural scientists were assigned to work with him. But even working together, they could not do it. Still, all their hard work was not in vain. In January 1708, they succeeded in making porcelain. It looked very different from gold, but it was just as valuable. 5 - Porcelain had already been made in China in 620 AD. It is made mainly from three ingredients: kaolin rock and the minerals quartz and feldspar. These are mixed in a complex and difficult process. They can be shaped into valuable cups, plates and figurines, which are fired two or three times at high temperatures. Europeans probably first learned about the Chinese people’s fine tableware from the traveler Marco Polo, who lived in China for a long time in the 13th century. He probably also brought some pieces of porcelain to Europe. People believed they were made from the shell of the cowrie snail. 6 - In Italian, this snail is called “porcellana.” Porcelain eventually got its name from this word. The fine material soon became highly sought-after by Europe’s powerful and wealthy rulers. It was also quite expensive, since all porcelain had to be imported from China. 7 - It was not until the 18th century that this valuable material could also be made in Europe. In 1710, large-scale production of porcelain objects began in Saxony. It took place at Albrechtsburg Castle in Meißen. This location was chosen because it was thought that the secret of porcelain-making could best be kept there. The recipes were closely guarded. However, employee Samuel Stöltzel took the secret to Vienna, where Europe’s second porcelain manufactory was established in 1718. 8 - In Meißen, the manufactory produced mainly valuable figurines and other works of art, as well as tableware. It is still in operation today and is now called “Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meißen GmbH”. Since 1731, the crossed blue swords have been the trademark of porcelain from Meißen. 9 - A large collection of porcelain is housed in the Porcelain Museum in Dresden’s Zwinger Palace. Founded by Augustus the Strong in 1715, it now contains 20,000 porcelain works of art, although only about 2,000 are on display due to lack of space. It also features valuable porcelain from Japan and China, which the Elector had collected with great enthusiasm. You can see many objects in Meißen, too, and guided tours even include a demonstration of how porcelain is made.