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In the 18th century, as the fashion for porcelain reached its peak, many porcelain factories were established outside Germany and France, the main centres of production. Many new factories were founded by arcanists, modellers, and decorators who exploited their knowledge of porcelain manufacture, moving from factory to factory throughout Europe. Unsurprisingly, most of the smaller European operations imitated the styles of Meissen and Sevres, although their wares sometimes display an interesting mixture of influences.
THE LOW COUNTRIES
In 1750 Francois-Joseph Peterinck (1719-99) established a factory in Tournai and, with the help of the arcanist Robert Dubois, produced soft-paste porcelain. The influence of Meissen in the tablewares can be seen in the moulded basket-weave borders and the spiral patterns around the rims of plates, while the decoration is more English-inspired. The specialities of Tournai were exotic birds and scenes taken from Aesop’s fables in underglaze blue, both of which were used at Chelsea and Worcester. Typical of Tournai, too, are landscape vignettes in puce or purple monochrome, surrounded by small sprays of flowers. The factory also made a limited range of galanterie – small decorative objects such as snuff-boxes.
Tournai produced a large range of figures and groups following contemporary French taste in their subject-matter, in particular pastoral scenes of shepherds and children by artists who had worked at Mennecy. The thickly glazed groups are painted in a pale palette or left in the white, but lack crisp modelling. Also typical of Tournai are figures and groups in biscuit porcelain, especially those on high rockwork bases around a central tree; groups like these were made at Derby.
Peterinck retired in 1796, and ownership of Tournai passed to his daughter Amelie de Bettignics (1757–after 1805). The factory continued making simple household wares, but no more figures, until the mid-19th century. Many 18th-century wares were sold undecorated, and were later painted at a porcelain factory in The Hague set up in 1776 by a German porcelain dealer, Anton Lyncker (1718-81). The Hague factory also made its own hard-paste porcelain wares, decorated in a manner similar to Tournai’s. Confusingly, both The Hague factory’s own products and the Tournai pieces that it decorated have the same mark; any soft-paste ware bearing an overglaze mark of a stork is likely to be (but by no means definitely is) of Tournai origin.
The first successful Dutch porcelain factor was established in Weesp, near Amsterdam, in 1757 by the Irish arcanist D. MacCarthy, who had been involved in attempts to manufacture porcelain in Copenhagen. This factory has a complex history of ownership. In 1771 it changed hands and moved to Oude Loosdrecht, and in 1782 moved to Amstel, near Amsterdam, where it remained until its closure in 1820. All the Dutch factories used a good-quality white hard paste with a clear glaze. Some small figures of putti holding salts were made at Weesp. At Oude Loosdrecht and Amstel, production was focused entirely on wares – mainly tea, coffee and dinner services. In both form and decoration
the wares are similar to Meissen and
other German porcelain.
SWITZERLAND
Most porcelain factories in Europe were established by aristocratic patrons who could afford luxury products; in Switzerland, where there was no monarchy, a group of prominent citizens established the first porcelain factory in Zurich in 1763. The factory initially made a soft-paste porcelain but switched to the production of hard paste c.1765.
Reflecting the demands of Switzerland’s dominant middle-class market, the bulk of Zurich
production was tea, coffee and dinner services. These generally followed German Rococo and Neo-classical styles, but the complex scrolled handles on coffee- and teapots were unique to Zurich. In terms of ecoration, the Zurich factory is associated with small pastoral landscapes in a palette dominated by blues and greens. Sortie exquisitely painted landscapes in warmer colours arc by Salomon Gessner (1739-79), 1739-79), one of the founders; unfortunately the enamels arc often flaky because the paint was applied too thickly. The colourful, naturalistic sprays of flowers familiar on 18th-century Meissen also featured at Zurich, although the flower sprays tend to be looser. Other kinds of decoration included a version of the Oriental banded hedge pattern, Usually in purple, and vignettes of birds on branches.
Almost 400 different types of figure igure and group were made, mostly in the late Rococo style. The famous Meissen series of the street vendors of London and Paris may have inspired the set of 42 street-
sellers called the “Cries of Zurich”. The finest figures were probably modelled by Valentin Sonnenschein (1749-1828), from Ludwigsburg, and, perhaps because of his influence, many Zurich figures resemble those made there. The factory closed in 1791, owing
to financial problems caused by competition from other factories and imports of inexpensive creamware from England.
SCANDINAVIA
In the 1730s several French
and German arcanists, including Christoph Conrad Hunger of Meissen
and Vienna, produced soft-paste porcelain
on a limited scale in Copenhagen. In 1774 the first hard-paste porcelain factory was founded there. Queen Caroline Matilda was the main shareholder of this factory; after her exile it was bought in 1779 by King Christian VII and styled the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory. A fine, white hard paste with a clear glaze was used to make wares mainly in a severe Neo-classical style, much influenced by Berlin, Vienna, and Sevres.
Cylindrical teapots and coffee-cups with angular handles, and trays with angled sides, are typically embellished with oval and cylindrical medallions enclosing landscapes, topographical views, or portraits in sepia, puce, or pink monochrome, surrounded with swags and coloured borders heightened with gilding. Botanical subjects were also popular, the most famous
example being the 1,800-piece “Flora Danica” service ( 1789-1802) that was probably made for Catherine the Great of Russia.
The factory declined in the early 19th century, but under the direction (1828-57) of Gustav Friedrich Hetsch it produced biscuit figures, notably those based on the work of the Neoclassical sculptor Berthel Thorvaldsen. The factory enjoyed a renaissance when in 1885 the architect and painter Arnold Krug (1856-1931) was appointed artistic director. With new glaze technology, he introduced a revolutionary form of underglaze painting, using simple washes of blues and greys to produce an effect very similar to Japanese pottery. Johann Ludwig Eberhard Ehrenreich (1722-1803)
produced porcelain between 1766 and 178 at Marieberg, near Stockholm.
It initially used a soft paste for Rococo wares, especially spiral-fluted custard cups similar
to those made at Mennecy.
A hard-paste porcelain was
introduced from 1777.

The great success of Meissen encouraged other European rulers to set up their own factories in the 1740s and 1750s. By the 1770s there were almost 20 factories in Europe producing hard-paste porcelain, often imitating the wares first produced at Meissen. The most significant are discussed below, although there were also several less important factories in the Saxon province of Thuringia producing high-quality wares on a much smaller basis, including those at Gotha (1756-1834), Kloster-Veilsdorf (est. 1760), Wallendorf (est. 1764), and Limbach (est. 1772).
HOCHSTIn
1746 the Elector of Mainz granted a privilege to Adam Friedrich von Lowenfink (1714-54) to establish a faience factory in Hochst, near Mainz. The factory manufactured porcelain only after the arrival of the arcanist Josef Jakob Ringlet ( 1730-1804) in 1750. Hochst became well known for its porcelain figures modelled by several notable craftsmen, such as Simon Feilner (1726-98), who modelled a dramatic set of commedia dell’arte figures and a few elaborate Rococo figures, Johann Friedrich Luck ( 1727-97), his brother Karl Gottlob Luck (c.1730-75), and Johann Peter Melchior (1742-1825), who became master modeller in 1767. Although Melchior’s figures often have a stiff or stylized appearance, there is much careful detailing in such features as the folds of clothes. One of the most characteristic elements of Melchior’s figures is the mound base, with either grass and earth, or rockwork detailed in green and brown.
The range of wares included trembleuse cups and saucers with plain surfaces and small modelled details such as animal or scrollwork spouts and wishbone handles. Wares were painted with landscape vignettes With figures, most frequently peasants or rustic scenes in the style of Dutch paintings, surrounded by small, scattered flowers. Polychrome decoration was common, but a distinctive palette of puce or green monochrome was also used.
The factory’s financial situation was always precarious, and it closed in 1796. The moulds of the Melchior models were sold to the Damm Pottery (est. 1827) in Aschaffenburg, where the designs were reproduced in faience from c.1830, although most existing pieces date from the mid-19th century. These arc often very similar to the porcelain originals and are highly collectable in their own right.
FRANKENTHAL
From 1752 Paul Antoine Hannong (1700-60) manufactured porcelain at his father’s faience factory (est. 1721) in Strasbourg with the help of Ringlet, who had previously worked at Hochst. In 1754 Louis XV banned the production of porcelain at Strasbourg in order to protect Vincennes from competition, and Hannong moved the factory to Frankenthal near Mannheim in the German Palatinate; production of hard-paste porcelain started the following year.
Frankenthal is noted for its figures, of which 800 different subjects have been identified. Among the finest are pastoral couples beneath elaborate Rococo arbours characterized by rather stiff modelling. The first modeller, Johann Wilhelm Lanz (active 1755-61), introduced scrolled Rococo bases. In 1762 Karl Theodor, the Elector Palatine, bought the factory and appointed Konrad Linck (1730-93) as chief modeller. Linck modified the style of the figures, enhancing the sculptural qualities of such features as drapery, and adding yellow and green grass or moss to the bases; he also introduced the first elements of Neo-classicism to the factory’s style. Johann Peter Melchior joined the factory from Hochst in 1779 and continued to make his distinctive models of children, often in biscuit porcelain.
Frankenthal produced a typical range of tableware, the forms of which were for the most part fairly simple with few sculptural details; plates, dishes, and large tea and coffee vessels often have moulded or pierced basketwork runs. Decoration of these wares was in a typical palette of strong, dark colours. The most common subject was naturalistic sprays of large flowers. loosely painted and surrounded by scattered smaller flowers. Jakob Osterspey (c.1730-82) specialized in mythological figures and musicians in idealized landscapes, after paintings by Watteau and Boucher. Also popular was trompe l`oeil decoration imitating grained wood, while in the 1770s to 1880s crimson and gold flowers over gilt-striped grounds were common.
When the Elector succeeded to the title of Elector of Bavaria in 1777 he moved to Munich, and without his support the factory went into decline. After French troops occupied the Palatinate in 1794 the factory was requisitioned, finally closing in 1799.
NYMPHENBURGIn
1753 the Elector of Bavaria established a porcelain factory in Neudeck, and in 1761 the factory was moved near to the Elector’s palace at Nymphenburg. The most outstanding products made at this factory are indisputably the figures by Franz Anton Bustelli
( 1722-63), one of the greatest exponents of the Rococo style. His forms are sty lized and gently twisting, often Slightly elongated, with simple, curvaceous forms. Many figures and groups were left unpainted or were painted with broad pastel washes. In t797 the modeller Johann Peter Melchior joined the factory from Frankenthal and produced Neo-classical biscuit figures. Tablewares include teapots that often have characteristic double-scroll handles and long spouts in the form of a swan’s head. The most popular type of decoration during the Rococo period was loose bouquets of flowers. Landscapes were either left untrained, half enclosed by rocaille frames, or framed by gilt cartouches.
LUDWIGSBURG
This factory was established by the Duke of Wurtemberg in 1758-9. The poor quality of the Ludwigsburg paste compared with some other German factories meant that it was more suitable for figures than for plain or sparsely decorated tableware. Under the direction of Gottlieb Friedrich Riedel the factory produced a variety of figures that appear rather stiff and very simplified, especially when compared with some of the more sophisticated work of such factories as Nymphenburg. The decoration is restrained, and the painting, most often in pastel colours, is precise. A series of miniatures made in the 1760s is among the most celebrated of the Ludwigsburg figures; representing market traders as well as courtiers, the figures were intended to form a miniature scene of an annual fair in Ludwigsburg. Teapots are generally bullet-shaped, often with fruit knops and bird’s-head spouts. Saucers are flared, as opposed to the rounded shape made elsewhere in Germany. Plates, dishes, tureens, and bowls typically feature a band of moulded and sectioned basketwork around the rims. Typical painted decoration includes unframed landscapes and scattered flowers. When the court moved to Stuttgart in the 1770x, the factory went into decline, arid it finally closed in 1824.
Hochst (1746-96)
• BODY hard-paste porcelain; opaque creamy white; generally flawless
• DECORATION landscape Vii usually of peasants Or rustic scenes in the manner of David Terriers (1610-90) with large figures; chinoiserie figures; naturalistic flower sprays
• tenses mound bases with grass and earth, or rockwork detailed in bright green and brown
Marks
Underglaze blue mark used from c.1750
Frankenthal (1755-99)
• Bony hard-paste porcelain; creamy off-white with a thin glaze but can tend toward greyish off-white, with tiny black specks of ash, or opaque white
• STYLE simple forms, plates, dishes, and large tea and Coffee vessels, often with moulded and sectioned or
pierced basketwork rims
• PALEI Fr. rich green, grey, carmine, brown, puce
• DI CORA I ION naturalistic flower sprays in style of Strasbourg; chinoiserie scenes with large figures; large birds in wooded landscapes
• FIGURES stiff modelling of a variable (often high)
quality; pastoral couples; some in biscuit porcelain
• BASES elaborate, with undulating and arched Rococo scrollwork, and often tufts of green moss
Marks
Underglaze blue Mark used during the period when Elector Karl Theodor owned the factory (1761-93)
Nymphenburg (est. 1753)BODY
• hard-paste porcelain; slightly creamy off-white,a dense with a wet-looking glaze, with greenish tone where it collects in hollows and corners
• STYLE characteristic double-scroll handle; simple “U”-shape for coffee-CLIPS and sugar-bowls
• PALETTE ochre, puce, mushroom-pink, brown, red
• DECORATION very skilful naturalistic flower-painting; landscapes with Classical ruins, statues, and small figures; large single figures
• FIGURES stylized, slightly elongated and curvaceous forms; later, stiffer Louis XVI-sty le figures; coloured deep pink and orange/tomato red in flat washes
• Bases on Bustelli figures these appear integral to the figure – flat, edged with asymmetrical scrollwork; also stepped pedestals
Marks
Impressed on wares made during the “Bustelli” period ( 1754-65)
Ludwigsburg (1727-1824)
• BODY hard-paste porcelain; greyish white and close-grained with distinctive smoky glaze, tends to be green where pooled
• FORMS bullet-shaped teapots; saucers with flared rims; Spouts in the form of birds or dragons, “C”-shaped scroll handles with shell or feather thumb-pieces
• PALETTE russet, puce, dark brown, green, yellow
• DECORATION naturalistic flower sprays; realistic figures after Watteau; fruit and flowers in Meissen style; landscapes with two or three tufts of foliage at the base
• FIGURES stiff with crisp modelling; coloured greyish puce, cobalt, yellow
• BASES grass and rockwork mounds or slabs, Rococo
FORSTENBERG
Charles I, Duke of Brunswick, established a factory at Furstenberg in 1747, but attempts to manufacture porcelain were unsuccessful until the arrival of Johann Kilian Benckgraff (1708-58) from Hochst in 1753. The factory encountered many technical problems, and early wares and figures often have flaws, such as black specks of ash in the body, or are slightly misshapen or cracked.
Many of the figures produced at Furstenberg imitated those produced at Meissen, Hochst, and Berlin. The most important modeller was Simon Feilner (1726-98) from Hochst, who became chief modeller in 1754; his work included a fine series of miners (1757-8) and, most notably, characters from the commedia dell’arte (C.1754). During the Neo-classical period the factory made Classical figures, including a series of biscuit busts of Classical poets and philosophers on pedestals. Copies of figures from 18th-century moulds were made in the 19th century, but can be distinguished from the originals by the clumsier decoration and harsher colours.
Early Fiirstenberg tablewares are particularly distinctive as they are often decorated with elaborate moulded Rococo scrollwork to disguise the flaws in the paste. Early decoration included flower sprays, sometimes in a green monochrome that indicates the influence of the Hochst craftsmen working at Fiirstenberg. Landscapes with buildings were generally left unframed and were painted in predominantly dark greens and browns. One of the factory’s most easily identifiable decorative themes is finely detailed poultry and other domestic birds perched on fences or branches.
BERLIN
The first porcelain factory at Berlin was founded by Wilhelm Kaspar Wegely in 1752. Some figures were copied directly from Meissen or from prints, and a series of small putti with large heads and limbs, dressed as members of various trades and professions, was also made. Tablewares and vases were painted in the style of Meissen, with naturalistic flowers, landscapes, and figures in the
manner of the French pastoral painter Antoine Watteau. Moulded flowers and foliage, and basketwork rims, were specialities of Wegely, and a range of moulded baskets was also made. The factory closed in 1757 because of financial problems during the Seven Years War.
In 1761 the merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky set up another factory with craftsmen who had worked at Wegely’s factory, but it went bankrupt and was bought in 1763 63 by Frederick the Great. The new factory, which was known as the Royal Porcelain Factory, produced
wares in a distinctive late Rococo style. Tablewares were embellished with trelliswork, pierced rims, and flowers entwined in basketwork patterns. Painted decoration included scale-ground borders and naturalistic flowers, animals, and birds. The modeller Wilhelm Christoph Meyer (1723-85) produced the series “Cries of Berlin” as well as allegorical and Classical figures characterized by elongated forms and small heads. They are set on small, square bases and painted in salmon pink, puce, and black. Neo-classical wares introduced in the 1770s include vases and cylindrical cups. The decoration was sumptuous, with gilded Neo-classical motifs, views of Berlin, and monochrome portrait medallions. During the 1780s figures set on high pedestal or rocky bases imitated Neo-classical sculpture.
Furstenberg (1753-c.1800)
• BODY hard-paste porcelain; generally whitish with a glassy glaze, early paste often had flaws
• STYLE “C”-scroll handles; early pieces sometimes have moulded scrollwork or frames
• PALETTE dominated by greens and browns; also monochrome green or purple; figures often left white
• DECORATION unframed landscapes; birds or fowl; portrait medallions
• FIGURES Feilner’s miners were both painted and unpainted; Neo-classical biscuit figures are typical; skin is often highly coloured
• BASES simple mound or pad
Marks
Underglaze-blue mark used during the early period of production
Berlin: Wegely factory (1752-7)
• BODY creamy white, similar to Meissen but with a thinner glaze lending an opaque look
• GLAZE very glassy, similar to Meissen
• PALETTE white or painted in puce, iron red, or black
• DECORATION moulded flowers, trailing foliage, and basket rims; naturalistic flower-painting