The electoral prince Karl Theodor bought the works at Frankenthal in 1761, and devoted himself to obtaining the best artists (Melchior, among others, was brought from Höchst) and most skilful potters, so that for a few years the porcelain here produced was in its way as good as any made in Germany—indeed it was attempted to rival the contemporary work of Sèvres in the delicacy of the painting and the brilliancy of the gilding. This ware is always to be associated with the Elector Karl Theodor, and its glory came to an end when, in 1778, he abandoned the palatinate on becoming elector of ducal Bavaria. The factory, however, was not finally closed till about 1800. The most usual mark is the lion-rampant crowned, from the arms of the palatinate ([Pl. c]. 32); the initials of Karl Theodor are also found surmounted by a crown ([Pl. c]. 33). There is a curious plate of this ware in the Franks collection; it bears a Latin inscription (containing a chronogram for 1775) which states that all the various colours and gilding used at the works are made use of in the decoration.
Fulda.—Porcelain was probably made at Fulda as early as the year 1741, but it was only in 1763, or perhaps even later, that the prince-bishop set up the ‘Fürstliche Fuldaische feine Porzellan-Fabrik’ close by his palace. The daintily modelled and carefully finished ware here made, marked with a double F or by a cross ([Pl. c]. 37 and 38), is seen occasionally in English collections. The fireclay as well as the beechwood for his kilns was obtained from the adjacent volcanic hills of the Hohe Rhön. As not only the bishop himself but the canons of the church also availed themselves somewhat freely of their privilege of appropriating whatever pleased them, as presents to their friends, a heavy loss was incurred, and the works were closed soon after the death of the founder.
Porcelain was also made during the latter half of the eighteenth century at Gotha and several other places in the neighbourhood of the Thüringer Wald. There are specimens of the ware made at many of these kilns—at Kloster Veilsdorf, at Wallendorf, at Gross Breitenbach, Limbach, Gera, and especially at Gotha—in the Franks collection of continental porcelain. A good deal of common porcelain for table use is still made at scattered factories in this district.
Strassburg.—Without committing oneself to any political parti-pris, we may conveniently say a word of the ceramic history of Strassburg at this point, although in the eighteenth century the town already belonged to France.[164] The Hannong family had here from the beginning of the eighteenth century been making fayence, and this family is of interest to us as forming a link between the porcelain of Germany and that of France. Charles François Hannong, probably with the assistance of a German arcanist, attempted the manufacture of hard porcelain as early as 1721. It was his son Paul Antoine who first entered into negotiations with the French for the sale of the secret of making hard porcelain. This was in 1753. Not only did these negotiations come to nothing, but, as we have already mentioned, Hannong was hampered in his attempts to establish a porcelain factory in his native town. In 1755 we find him with the elector-palatine at Frankenthal. After his death in 1760, the factory at Strassburg was carried on for a time by his son, Pierre Antoine, but in 1766 the latter went to France and started a factory first at Vincennes, and later in the Faubourg St. Lazare, under the patronage of the Comte d’Artois. Later still we find him employed at the Vinovo works in Piedmont. His eldest son, Joseph Adam Hannong, struggled on for some time at Strassburg under the protection of the local magnate, the Cardinal de Rohan. Thus for more than sixty years four generations of this family played a prominent part in the dissemination of the knowledge of hard porcelain in Europe, although the actual wares made by them are of little importance.[165]
The factory at the adjacent town of Niderwiller appears to have derived its inspiration directly from Meissen. Porcelain was here made from German clay as early as the sixties. At a later time the works belonged to the Comte de Custine, and some well modelled biscuit figures, the clay for which was obtained from Limoges, were then turned out.
Switzerland.—A good deal of porcelain was made in the eighteenth century both at Zurich and at Nyon, on the Lake of Geneva. The various wares are well represented in several of the local Swiss museums.
The porcelain of Zurich belongs essentially to the Saxon group. The hard, greyish or dead-white paste, and the flowers or landscapes carefully painted in opaque colours, point at once to the origin of the ware. The factory was established as early as 1763, with the assistance of an arcanist, one Spengler, from Höchst. The Swiss poet, Solomon Gessner, took a great interest in the works, himself painting landscapes on several pieces. From Ludwigsburg also came Sonnenschein, to model some clever and lifelike figures. A coral-coloured ware made at this time was much admired. The Zurich factory did not long survive the French invasion: it was closed in 1803. This porcelain is marked in blue under the glaze with a capital Z of German form ([Pl. d]. 49).
At Nyon, on the other hand, the influence came from Sèvres, in later times at least, for on the earlier specimens the tulips, birds, and landscapes are of a Saxon type. The white ware, semé de fleurettes—blue violets and roses—is perhaps the most characteristic. There were probably two factories here at the end of the eighteenth century. Of these the better known one was established by Maubrée, a flower painter from Sèvres, to whom is attributed the porcelain marked with a hastily sketched fish in blue ([Pl. d]. 50). Some of the Nyon porcelain was decorated at Geneva, and at a later date we find more than one artist of the latter town holding an important position at Sèvres; indeed under Charles x., a Genevese, Abraham Constantin, who copied the pictures of Raphael on porcelain, was director of the art school attached to the royal factory.
Hungary.—A factory was established by Moritz Fischer at Herend, in Hungary, early in the nineteenth century. The porcelain of Herend is of especial interest to us, for Fischer appears to have mastered the problem of producing the brilliant and jewel-like enamels of the Chinese. Some of his imitations of the famille rose are excellent. He appears to have devoted himself to making coffee-cups and other small objects for the Turkish market. There is an interesting collection of his ware at South Kensington. The rouge d’or, the green and even the black grounds of the Chinese are well imitated, but the blue, sous couverte, and the iron red are not so successful. He also imitated the porcelain of Sèvres and Capo di Monte. Fischer stamped his ware with the word Herend in very small characters, and the Hungarian coat of arms is sometimes added over the glaze ([Pl. c]. 39).