Porcelain

by Edward Dillon

The only mark of interest on the porcelain of Berlin is the sceptre ([Pl. c]. 31), the prized ensign that the electors of Brandenburg bore on their shield as an emblem of their position as Arch-Chamberlains of the Holy Roman Empire.[162] It was this sceptre (very slightly indicated on the earlier examples, and resembling, perhaps intentionally, the Saxon mark) that the Prince de Ligne observing on his plate, when dining with the king, affected to take for a sword, and made the occasion of a ‘two-edged’ compliment.

Höchst.—The fayence of Höchst, a town lying between Frankfort and Mainz, had acquired some reputation early in the eighteenth century, and already, by the year 1720, one of the manufacturers, Göltz, had attempted to make porcelain. But not until he had obtained the assistance of a runaway workman or ‘arcanist’ from Vienna, one Ringler (a name which occurs over and over again in similar connections—see note,[ p. 262]), was anything of importance accomplished.[163] The kilns were now rebuilt on the Viennese model, and by the year 1746 porcelain of good quality was produced. The works had already received many privileges from the local prince, in this case the archbishop-elector of Mainz, and about 1778 (or perhaps earlier) the whole establishment was purchased by him. This prince was a patron of art and fond of display, so that during his day the manufacture was conducted on a non-commercial basis. The chief claim to attention of the ware made at Höchst depends upon the little lifelike figures that were modelled by a clever sculptor who worked there from 1768 or 1770 to 1780. The work of this Johann Peter Melchior, who survived till 1825, is preferred by some collectors to anything made at Meissen. He migrated late in life first to Frankenthal, and then to Nymphenburg. The wooden models from which he worked are now much sought after in Germany. It is stated that the kaolin used at Höchst was obtained from Limoges, but this can only apply to a comparatively late period. The works came to an end with the invasion of the French in 1794. The mark, a six-spoked wheel, sometimes surmounted by a crown (Pl. c. 29), is derived from the arms of the arch-episcopal see of Mainz,—indeed the Höchst ware is sometimes known as porcelaine de Mayence.

Fürstenberg.—The Duke Karl of Brunswick was one of the earliest German princes to establish a porcelain factory; this was at the castle of Fürstenberg, on the Weser. The works were organised about 1746 by the Baron von Langen, who was something of an arcanist; and from Höchst, in 1750, the assistance of an experienced potter, one Bengraf, was obtained. Bengraf had to escape by stealth from Höchst, where he had been in the employ of Göltz, and reached Fürstenberg after many sufferings and privations. A point of interest in connection with the porcelain made at a later time at this factory is that flour-spar (fluoride of calcium) has formed an important element in the composition of the glaze. In the Museum at Brunswick may be seen more than eight hundred specimens of this porcelain, and any want of originality is made up for by the extraordinary variety and number of the different wares that have been copied. It is not perhaps surprising, in view of the close family ties existing between the dukes and our second and third Georges, to find copies of our English soft pastes, especially of Chelsea. The clarets and maroons of this latter ware were imitated with some success. A landscape-painter of some local fame, whose works may be seen in the gallery at Brunswick, one Pascha Weitsch, was employed to paint views on this porcelain, and good portrait-busts—of Lavater and of Raphael Mengs, among others—may be found in the adjacent museum. The factory has continued in operation up to quite recent times. The Fürstenberg mark, a large F in a flowing hand ([Pl. c]. 30), may be observed not unfrequently on china in old collections in England. There was more than one specimen at Strawberry Hill.

Ludwigsburg.—We now come again upon the arcanist Ringler. In 1758 he was tempted away from Höchst by the Duke Karl Eugen of Würtemberg, and placed at the head of a manufactory of porcelain which had lately been established at Ludwigsburg, the Versailles or Potsdam of the dukes, situated some nine miles to the north of Stuttgart. The paste of this ware is not remarkable for purity of tint, and I do not know whether we are to believe the statement that the materials came in part from France. The enamel painting is distinguished by its high finish; on the gala services made for the court, among wreaths of flowers in low relief we find carefully painted beetles and butterflies. The little, highly finished statuettes and groups are of some merit. In the Museum of National Antiquities at Stuttgart is now to be seen an extensive collection of porcelain, purchased in 1875 from Herr Murschel, and here the Ludwigsburg ware can be well studied. The shield of Würtemberg, with

PLATE XXXII. 1. MEISSEN. 2. LUDWIGSBURG.

its three pairs of antlers, is sometimes found on this ware ([Pl. c]. 35), but more often the initials of the reigning duke—or (after 1806) king—with or without a crown ([Pl. c]. 36). It is this last mark that has probably given rise to the absurd name of Kronenburg by which this ware is sometimes known among dealers. Soon after 1775, when the dukes abandoned Ludwigsburg as a place of residence, the factory declined in importance, but the manufacture lingered on till the year 1824.

Nymphenburg.—About the middle of the eighteenth century the electoral prince, Max Joseph, established some works at Neudeck, on the Au, in ducal Bavaria, and this factory, it is said, was visited and reorganised by the ubiquitous Ringler in 1756. In 1758, however, the manufactory was removed to the summer residence of Nymphenburg, near Munich. Heintzmann painted landscapes, and other artists copied famous pictures from the Munich Gallery, on the fine white ground of this porcelain. The elector-palatine inherited the ducal territory in 1778, and hither, in 1799, came many workmen from Frankenthal when the palatinate was invaded by the French. This ware is best represented in the National Museum at Munich. The works are still carried on, but they are now in private hands. The Nymphenburg porcelain may generally be recognised by the shield of Bavaria, ‘fusilly’ ([Pl. c]. 35), but this shield takes various forms and the mark is often very small.

Frankenthal.—Somewhat more interest attaches to the porcelain made at Frankenthal, a town of the palatinate, not far from Mannheim, if only because at its foundation we are brought into connection not only with the earlier German works, but at the same time, indirectly, it is true, with Sèvres. Here, according to one account, came Ringler, in 1751, leaving Höchst in disgust, after he had been robbed of his papers and of his secrets. At any rate, a few years later, in 1755, Paul Antoine Hannong, a member of a famous family of potters at Strassburg, was granted a privilege to found here a factory of porcelain. Hannong had graduated as a porcelain arcanist, and had already fruitlessly endeavoured to sell his secrets to the authorities at Vincennes. As the royal porcelain works, on their removal to Sèvres, now began to claim the monopoly for the whole of France, Hannong was not allowed to set up his kilns at Strassburg.