Posts Tagged ‘soft paste’

Swansea and Nantgarw
The high reputation enjoyed by Welsh porcelain is very much deserved, for the body is truly beautiful and the decoration usually most elegant. Credit for the porcelain and the (albeit short) success of the Welsh factories lies firmly with the painter William Billingsley (1758-1828) who in 1813 brought to Nantgarw, near Cardiff, a new formula he had developed at Barr, Flight & Barr in Worcester. In 1814, with his backer, William Weston Young, Billingsley moved production to the Cambrian Works at Swansea. In 1817 he returned to Nantgarw, and in 1820 left for Coalport.
SWANSEA
Swansea made soft-paste porcelain, closer to the paste produced at Sevres than to Staffordshire bone china. Swansea paste is a glass-like, highly translucent body; three types were made, known as ‘: glassy”, “duck egg”, and “trident”. However, attempts to perfect the high-quality porcelain led to numerous firing problems; a very large proportion of wares were tlierefore lost in the kiln, and the factory struggled to make a profit.
Billingsley looked to France for inspiration, and most shapes and forms of decoration were in the French style – the height of fashion in the London market. The
delicate white porcelain was an ideal ground for flower-painting, and, in addition to Billingsley himself, many talented flower-painters were engaged at Swansea, including David Evans, Thomas Pardue (1770-1823), Henry Morris 1799-1880), and William Pollard (1803-54). Thomas Baxter (1782-1821), who later worked at Worcester, painted
atmospheric landscapes, figure subjects, and birds. Simple but elegant formal patterns were painted at Swansea, as well as rich “Japan” patterns; other rich decoration was added in London.
NANTGARW
By 1817 the Swansea venture was failing because of
continued firing problems, and Billingsley, striving to succeed on his own, moved back to Nantgarw where he erected new kilns. Nantgarw porcelain was still difficult to control, a problem that resulted most notably in a scarcity of teawares. Instead, plates could be fired with some success, and for a few years Nantgarw plates were made in reasonable quantity, although output was never large. A few wares were decorated in Wales, but most were sent to London to independent decorators, where the finest decoration, in the French style, was added; this included richly coloured grounds and ornate painting. Attempts to attribute painting to London artists as opposed to Welsh artists are always controversial, although it is likely that London painting was generally far superior to anything carried out at Nantgarw.
Although Nantgarw made extremely fine, beautiful porcelain, it was unable to make a profit. As a result the Venture failed, and in 1820 Billingsley retired to live near Coalport. Many unfinished pieces were left at Nantgarw, and some were decorated up to ten or even twenty years later by local artists such as Pardoc. Auctions held in 1821 and 1822 sold off the last of the wares.
• BODY both soft-paste porcelain; Swansea: types known as “glassy”, “duck egg”, and `trident”; Nantgarw: extremely fine and translucent
• FORMS teawares, flatwares, cabinet cups, ice pails, tea, dinner, and dessert services
• DECORATION superb flower-painting
• DECORATORS Baxter, Billingsley, Pollard, Pardoc,Morris; study can identify the characteristics of different Swansea flower-painters
• PATRONAGE Nantgarw received important commissions
from the aristocracy and local dignitaries
• BEWARE French porcelain was painted in London by the same artists who decorated Swansea and Nantgarw blanks; this can lead to a great deal of confusion
• COLLECTING Swansea shapes are well documented, and specimens must correspond exactly before a Welsh attribution can be claimed; correct identification of body and glaze is important, as Coalport took over some Nantgarw moulds and imitations are plentiful; Wares are often in good condition

Porcelain
Plymouth, Bristol, and New Hall
English porcelain belonged to a type known technically as soft-paste, or “artificial”, porcelain, which lacked the beautiful hard whiteness of hard-paste porcelain such as that produced in China or at Meissen. However, the chemist William Cookworthy (1705-80) believed that hard paste could be made in Britain and searched for suitable raw materials. Kaolin (china clay), the essential ingredient in true porcelain, had been discovered in Cornwall in 1745, and Cookworthy patented several formulas containing this mineral to make what he believed to be the finest English porcelain.
PLYMOUTH AND BRISTOL
From c.1768 Cookworthy produced England’s first commercial hard-paste porcelain at his Plymouth works, but it was dogged by serious problems. A pure white glaze was rarely achieved – the creamy surface was frequently covered with black specks that gave it a dirty appearance. Like Meissen and other European makers, Plymouth experienced difficulties with its underglaze blue, which almost turned black, with severe blurring. Painters from Worcester were attracted to Plymouth, and the factory’s shapes and Oriental designs closely follow those of Worcester. Few collectors will admit that Plymouth was a failure, but when Cookworthy moved to Bristol in 1770 he had little of any real quality to show new investors.
The porcelain made by Cookworthyat Bristol was probably identical to his Plymouth wares, and it seems likely that much of the porcelain today called “Plymouth” was really made at Bristol. Improvements were made: John Toulouse, a modeller at Bow, came via Worcester and introduced new shapes and figures, mainly direct copies of the latest patterns of Meissen’s “Academic” period (1763-74). Bristol sometimes marked its wares with a copy of the Meissen crossed swords, a feature that often confuses present-day collectors – particularly since Bristol porcelain achieved a whiteness similar to that of Meissen after Richard Champion (1743-91) took over Cookworthy’s patents
in 1774. Champion made some beautiful porcelain, especially in the Neo-classical
style, but never in any great quantity because the works continued to be plagued by firing difficulties, notably “wreathing” – spiral ridges
on the surface caused by kiln distortion. Plates and dishes were placed on clay supports during firing to prevent warping. The factory closed in 1781.
NEW HALL
Despite the failure of Bristol, Champion still saw a future for English hard-paste porcelain and visited Staffordshire to try to sell his patent. A consortium of manufacturers showed an interest but realized
that Champion’s formula had to be adapted for mass production. As the New Hall Co., the consortium opened a factory c.1781 at Shelton to exploit an improved version of Champion’s porcelain body – the type now known as “hybrid hard paste”. The glaze tended to be greenish-grey, but it could be potted very thinly, and wreathing was a less severe problem. The factory was designed to make a profit and aimed its products at a mass market, ignoring more expensive pieces such as ornamental figures and vases. Tea and coffee services in a limited range of patterns comprised the bulk of New Hall’s output. Other factories, also concentrating on teawares, were established in competition, and each firm produced its own version of standard shapes – it is therefore important for collectors to learn the differences. New Hall continued into the 1830s, although its later products are not as collectable.
Plymouth (c.1768-70)
• BODY hard-paste porcelain
• GLAZE a pure white glaze was rarely achieved, because the creamy surface was frequently covered by a smoke of black specks that gave it a dirty appearance
• UNDERGLAZE BLUE almost black, with severe blurring
• DECORATION Oriental patterns following Worcester
Marks
This alchemical sign for tin (which was the main industry in Cornwall) was sometimes used
Bristol (1770-81)
• BODY hard-paste porcelain; very white after 1774
• FEATURES “wreathing” – ridges spiralling around the surface – can often be seen on cups and other hollow shapes owing to firing difficulties
• STYLE Neo-classical, continental
• DECORATION inspired by Meissen “Academic” wares
Marks
Mark in blue enamel, sometimes accompanied by numerals; Meissen crossed-swords mark also copied
New Hall (c.1781-1830s)
• BODY hard-paste porcelain, thinly potted
• GLAZE thick, dull, and greenish grey
• FORMS specialized in tea and coffee services aimed at the mass market; other items are extremely rare
Marks
Pattern numbers were introduced to enable customers to reorder easily, and these help with identification

Vincennes and early Sevres
The Meissen factory went into decline following the Seven Years War ( 1756-63) and was supplanted in terms of importance by the factory of Vincennes, later moved to Sevres near Paris. This factory was taken under royal control, and its commercial interests were protected by royal edicts. Employing the finest artists of the day, the factory became the leading producer of porcelain in the Rococo style and, from the 1770s the more severe Neoclassical style.
VINCENNES
The Vincennes factory was established c.1740 at the chateau of Vincennes, with the help of runaway Workers from Chantilly. The first director was Claude-Humbert Gerin ( 1705-50), who discovered the secret of producing a soft paste that was much whiter and finer than that used by earlier French factories.
In 1745 Louis XV granted the factory a 20-year exclusive privilege to produce porcelain. The earliest wares, primarily influenced by Meissen, are heavy in form and painted with small flower sprays, often combined with gilt trellis and scrollwork borders, or landscape and figure scenes.
The painting can be distinguished from that of Meissen by its freer brushwork and a softer palette.
Among the more distinctive early products were porcelain flower-heads, which were bought by marchands-merciers (dealers in luxury products) and mounted on metal stems. These flower arrangements were placed in vases or used to embellish such items as lamps, clocks, and chandeliers. Figures were made on a limited scale in the 1740s and were usually simply glazed. Popular subjects included birds, animals, nymphs, hunters, and children or putti.In
1748 the goldsmith Jean Claude Chambellan Duplessis ( 1690-1774) was hired to create new forms in the Rococo taste. He designed lighter and more elegant shapes that show the influence of contemporary silver. In 1752 the painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1806) was hired as artistic director; he introduced lighthearted, designs of children in the style of the Rococo painter Francois Boucher, and fanciful birds. In 1753
the King granted a new privilege to Vincennes and issued an edict restricting rival factories in their use of subjects, colours, and gilding. In 1751-2 the factory pioneered the fashion for biscuit, or unglazed, porcelain in Europe. Bachelier abandoned the production of small, freely modelled figures in favour of three-dimensional, sculptural pieces designed by such artists as Boucher.
EARLY SEVRESIn
1756 the factory moved to the chateau of Sevres, near Paris. The quality of the paste and gilding was strictly controlled, and the King issued sumptuary laws banning the use of gilding by any other French porcelain factory in order to protect the commercial interests of Sevres. In 1768 deposits of kaolin were discovered in the Limoges region, enabling the factory to produce hard-paste porcelain.
A Cuvette a fleurs by Sevres
This basin was intended for holding flowers. It is possible that it was designed by Duplessis, who is credited as being responsible for many of the forms made at Sevres at this time.
(c.1757, ht 32.5crr/12Yin; value H)
During the late 1750s and the 1760s
Sculptors, goldsmiths, and designers created
larger and more ambitious pieces, such as the purely decorative vases a teted`elephants
(vases modelled with elephant
heads supporting candlesticks), and other
decorative items, such as pear-shaped ewers
with flat covers. In addition to coloured
grounds, the factory introduced several
patterned grounds in the late 1760s: oeil de
perdrix (”partridge eye”), cailloute (”pebbled”), and verinicule (”worm-cast”). The reserve panels are often filled in, with little of the white porcelain left showing, contrasting with the more spare decoration employed at Vincennes. However, large, functional services, tend to have less elaborate painting – typically, small scattered flowers, which are more stylized than those used at Vincennes. Biscuit was the most popular medium for figures and the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconer (1716-91), chief modeller between 1757 and 1766, continued the tradition of charming, if sometimes rather sentimental groups of children, lovers, and allegorical subjects.
Vincennes
• BODY Soft-paste porcelain
• STYLE copies of Meissen; later, Rococo wares
• unglazed with tree stump, rockwork, or vase supports in the 1740s; after 17-51 three-dimensional, crisply modelled biscuit figures
Early Sevres
• BODY soft-paste porcelain
• STYLE delicate and elegant Rococo
• DECORATION patterned as well as plain, coloured grounds reserved with typically Rococo themes within fine gilt frames
• FIGURES sentimental biscuit figures and groups of . lovers and children, inspired by Boucher’s paintings Marks
Vincennes: interlaced “L”s without a date
letter were used from c.1740
1740 to 1752
Sevres: the first date letter was introduced in
17-53 the letter “H” is for 1760

Early porcelain
The porcelain factories established in France in the early 18th century manufactured soft-paste porcelain, since the kaolin necessary for the production of hard paste was not discovered in France until 1768. Early French porcelain, particularly that of Chantilly, is considered especially attractive by collectors because of its soft ivory or creamy colour. The first factory was established in the 1670s in Rouen by the Poterat family, but its output was much less significant than the later factories of Saint-Cloud, Chantilly, and Mennecy.
SAINT-CLOUD
In 1664 Claude Reverend obtained a privilege to experiment with the manufacture of porcelain in and around Paris. In 1674 he employed Pierre Chicaneau (d.1677), who is said to have discovered the recipe for soft-paste porcelain. Through the patronage of the Duke of Orleans, Chicaneau’s widow, Barbe Coudray (d.1717), was granted a privilege for the manufacture of faience and porcelain at Saint-Cloud in 1702.
A large range of wares was made at the factory, including ice pails, spice-boxes, snuff-boxes, bonbonnieres, and cutlery handles. A speciality was pot-pourri vases, usually left unpainted. Early decoration comprised underglaze blue borders of lambrequins. From c.1730 wares were left in the white and decorated with moulded prunes blossom, imitating Mane-de-Chine wares from Dehua in Fujian Province, China. More European designs, such as overlapping leaves and wading birds, were introduced as moulded decoration. In the same period, the painters copied Japanese wares in the Kakiemon and Imari patterns.
CHANTILLY
In 172.5 Louis-Henri of Bourbon, Prince of Conde, founded a porcelain factory on his estate at Chantilly. The factory is celebrated for its wares decorated in the style of Japanese Kakiemon and Chinese famine-vote porcelain. Many items – jardinieres, teapots, jugs, and plates – were probably copied directly from Oriental originals in the Duke’s collection. Figures of Chinese and Japanese characters were also a speciality of the factory before c.1750 and were decorated in the Kakiemon style.
After the mid-18th century, decoration of small scattered sprays of European flowers was introduced. In 1753 Louis XV issued an edict restricting the use of gilding and certain colours by French porcelain factories to protect the commercial interests of Vincennes. Permitted decoration generally consisted of simple floral designs in underglaze blue, or blue or pink enamels. During the 19th century Chantilly porcelain was extensively copied by the factory of Edme Samson & Cie in Paris.
MENNECY
In 1734 the faience manufacturer Francois Barbin (1689-1765) opened a factory producing soft-paste porcelain in Paris under the patronage of the Duke of Villeroy. Wares in the style of Vincennes, Saint-Cloud, and Meissen as well as imitations of Japanese Kakiemon porcelain were made. In 1748 the factory moved to Mennecy, near Paris, where custard-cups and covers, moulded with spiral or vertical fluting, and bell-shaped ice-cups, influenced by Vincennes and Sevres, were produced. These were painted with sprays Of flowers in a palette dominated by puce and red. Before 1750 the factory produced stiffly modelled Oriental figures, usually decorated in the Kakiemon palette, and after 1750 rustic peasants, children at play, allegorical figures, and, more rarely, commedia dell’arte figures.
Saint-Cloud (1664-1766)
• BODY creamy-white or ivory soft paste, with a soft glaze that is greenish where it gathers
• DECORATION ION lambrequin borders in underglaze blue; moulded prunes blossom; stiffly painted copies of Japanese Kakiemon and Imari patterns and palettes

• BODY soft-paste porcelain with a distinctive opaque, creamy tin glaze, which makes it look similar to faience; 19th-century copies are greyish and glassy
• DECORATION before the 1750s Kakiemon and famille verte patterns outlined in black – these wares are the most collectable; from the 1750s European flowers in underglaze blue, or blue or pink monochrome
• FIGURES Oriental figures painted in Kakiemon palette

Mennecy (1734-1806)
• BODY similar to Saint-Cloud, with a soft, ivory tone and a slightly green tint to the glaze
• DECORATION Kakiemon style; sprays of European flowers in a pastel palette dominated by puce and red
• FIGURES stiffly modelled figures of Orientals, painted in Kakiemon style; later, figures of peasants, children, putti, and allegorical subjects in line with Rococo taste

Capodimonte, Buen Retiro, and Naples
The first porcelain produced in Europe was made in Florence at the factory started by Francesco I de’ Medici, a member of one of the most powerful ruling families in Europe. The duke had a great interest in the applied arts and chemistry, and in the 1570s he initiated experiments in porcelain manufacture that would produce the first successful European soft-paste, or “artificial”, porcelain in 1575. The Medici porcelain enterprise was short-lived, however, and it was not until more than 150 years later that soft paste was again produced in Italy.
CAPODIMONTE AND BUEN RETIRO
The most famous porcelain factory in Italy was founded by Charles IV, King of Naples and Sicily (later Charles III of Spain), in 1743 at the royal palace of
Capodimonte. Although wares generally imitated those made at Meissen and Vienna in shape and decoration, a distinctive soft palette and stippled designs were used. Subjects included chinoiseries, landscapes with small figures and fruit and flowers, and battle scenes.
Capodimonte figures by the chief modeller, Giuseppe Gricci rank with those of Franz Anton Bustelli (1722-63) at Nymphenburg and Johann Joachim Kandler (1706-75) at Meissen. Gricci’s elegant yet lively modelling is particularly well set off by the fine soft paste, which heightens the effect of the flowing lines.
Naples
Many of the figures are undecorated, revealing the beautiful material, while others are painted in muted pastel shades. Gricci gave his figures disproportionately small heads, a feature peculiar to Capodimonte. He is also well known for his fabulous porcelain room in the royal palace at Portici, which is covered entirely with porcelain panels ornamented with chinoiserie figures.
In 1759 Charles succeeded his father as King of Spain, and moved the factory to the palace of Buen Retiro in Madrid. Early Buen Retiro wares are almost indistinguishable from Capodimonte. However, in the 1770s the factory ceased to import materials from Italy, and the quality of the paste deteriorated, becoming greyer and less refined. The Buen Retiro factory concentrated on the production of figures rather than wares; these are generally fairly sculptural in style and include allegorical subjects, peasants, and saints. hits.
NAPLES
After Charles III left for Spain, his son became King of Naples and Sicily as Ferdinand IV. In 1771 he revived the production Of porcelain, which continued until 1806 when lie was deposed by the French. Biscuit figures and Classical groups were created by the chief modeller, Filippo Tagliolini (1745-1808); the factory also made biscuit copies of antique sculpture from nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum. Most popular with collectors are the figures of peasants and bourgeois in brightly coloured contemporary dress. Tea, coffee, and dinner services and vases arc typical wares, decorated with views of Naples and its surroundings, including Mount Etna.
Capodimonte (1743-59) and Buen Retiro (1760-1812)
• BODY pure white and translucent with brilliant glaze, giving a slightly creamy tone; at Buen Retiro greyer and less refined, replaced by hard paste 1803
• DECORATION small figures in landscapes; fruit and flowers; chinoiseries in very pale, soft palette, often in stippled technique; continuous battle scenes
• FIGURES elegant and vigorously modelled; most have heads; most undecorated or sparingly painted
Marks
Capodimonte: this mark was used from c.1745: blue painted in gold or in underglaze blue
Buen Retiro: this underglaze blue marls was used in various forms from c.1760
Naples (1771-1806)
• Body glassy, white paste, similar to Capodimonte but lacking ivory-toned translucency
• DECORATION views of Naples and surroundings, sometimes very finely painted; also “Etruscan” style in black, white, and terracotta, imitating Greek vases
• FIGURES Classical biscuit groups; miniatures of antique statues; stiffly modelled peasants and bourgeoisie in brightly coloured contemporary costume
Vezzi, Cozzi, and Doccia
The production of hard-paste porcelain in Italy- only ten years after the founding of the Meissen factory. The manufacture of hard paste in Italy was in some ways more successful than that of soft paste; whereas the Naples factory closed in the I 9th century, the Doccia factory continues today.
KEY FACTS
Vezzi (1720-27)
• BODY translucent paste varying in colour from pure white through creamy white to almost grey with a clear glaze
• PALETTE strong brownish-red or leaf-green enamels; Underglaze blue
• DECORATION floral patterns, chinoiserie, large commedia dell’arte characters
VEZZI
The factory was founded in Venice in 1720 by the goldsmith Francesco Vezzi ( 1651-1740) and Christoph Conrad Hunger, an arcanist who had worked at Meissen and Vienna. The factory was short-lived, and very few pieces of Vezzi porcelain are known today. Production consisted mainly of cups and saucers, coffee- and teapots, and plates. As the material was still experimental, wares were thickly potted so that they did not collapse in the kiln. Vezzi forms were often inspired by contemporary Baroque silver or Oriental porcelain shapes. Among the popular subjects for painting were stylized floral motifs, large commedia dell’arte figures, and chinoiseries.
lam
The second hard-paste porcelain factory in Venice was established in 1764 by Geminiano Cozzi 1 –28-97). Its output was larger and more
successful than that of Vezzi. Cozzi introduced the lighter Rococo style. Some wares have applied flowers, but most are painted, in a palette dominated iron red, puce, and an iridescent green. The most common themes are flowers, unframed landscapes, and Classical figures in scrollwork or solid borders. Cozzi figures include Meissen-style pagoda figures, characters from the commedia dell’arte, and dwarfs modelled after engravings by the French artist Jacques Callot (1592-1635). They do not often appear on the market today and so are highly prized by collectors.
DOCCIA
The Doccia factory was founded near Florence in 1737 Carlo Ginori (1702-57). The earliest porcelain was a hybrid hard paste that had a rough, smeared surface and often cracked when fired. The quality improved after 1770, when a glaze that included tin oxide was used to make it whiter and opaque.
The largest part of the factory’s output was small and decorative wares, and tea and table services. The factory used some very distinctive types of decoration that make its wares easily recognizable, including designs known asa galetto
rosso” (Chinese-style cockerels painted in iron red and gold), “a tulipano” (iron-red peonies in the Oriental style), and classical figures moulded in low relief, with strong flesh tones and gilded details. The style was much imitated in the 19th century, but 18th-century examples are rare. Other techniques included decoration with stencilling (”stampino”) in blue and hire. The factory also produced figures with well-defined musculature on elaborate scroll bases. Some were left in the white, but others were painted in intense colours or, more rarely, in iron-red monochrome.
In the 19th century the factory continued to produce wares and figures in its 18th-century patterns. In 1896 it was incorporated with the Societa Richard of Milan under the name Richard-Ginori.
Marks
This mark was usually in underglaze blue, or gold or red enamel
Cozzi (1764-1812)
• Body greyish paste with distinctive wet-looking glaze; can vary in quality
• PALLETTE dominated by iron red, puce, and an unusual iridescent green
• DECORATION painted flowers, untrained landscapes with buildings, chinoiseries, and Classical figures; applied flowers
Marks
This mark was enamelled in red
Doccia (est. 1737)BODY
• grey, somewhat crude paste with distinctive, thin, sticky-looking glaze
• PALL I I E dominated by iron red and puce
• DECORATION moulded low-relief Classical figures, detailed in bright colours and gilding; Chinese cockerels; red peonies; transfer-printing and stencilling
• FIGURES slip-cast, modelled with stong musculature

Vienna
After unsuccessful attempts to make porcelain, Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier (d.1751) bribed the Meissen arcanist Christoph Conrad Hunger (active c.1717-48) to come to Vienna in 1717 to teach him the secret formula. Hunger’s expertise proved to be limited, so Du Paquier employed Bottger’s kilnmaster Samuel Stolzel (d.1737) in 1719, and the factory made its first successful hard-paste porcelain.
THE DU PAQUIER PERIOD: 1719-44
The shapes of Du Paquier’s wares arc similar to early Meissen, as they are copied from Baroque silver and are of symmetrical form embellished with scrollwork. The factory actory also made some original items: tall beakers, sometimes with moulded borders and usually on a narrow foot; bottles or flasks applied with masks or modelled with animal-head spouts; and double-handled beakers on large, oval trembleuse stands.
Flower decoration was copied from Chinese and Japanese wares with a palette dominated by iron red, green and manganese purple; contemporary Meissen wares are much closer to the originals. Vienna, however, pioneered the use of European flower decoration on porcelain c.1730. At first these were precisely painted in the style of botanical engravings, but from c.1740 to 1745 they arc smaller and scattered, with much freer brushwork. Another innovation was the use of black, puce, or iron-red monochrome for battle and hunting scenes and chinoiserie; black monochrome, known as “Schwarzlot” (”black lead”), was a common technique among the Hausmaler who worked for the factory. These scenes were often enclosed by borders or cartouches of Baroque scrollwork with Laub- and Bandelwerk, (”leaf- and strapwork”) ornament.
FIRST STATE PERIOD: 1744-1841
Although the earls Vienna wares were successful, the factory’s finances were always precarious. In 1744 Du Paquier sold the factory to the Austrian state, which had been supporting it for many years. Because its financial troubles might
have been due to over-production, the
factory did not introduce any new designs
until c.1750. From this date, wares and figures were made in the fashionable Rococo style. The paste was improved c.1749 with the use of a much finer clay imported from Hungary.
With the outbreak of the Seven Years War in 1756 there was a new influx to Vienna of Meissen craftsmen who influenced the style of decoration; typical themes were scattered European flowers, unframed monochrome landscapes, and scenes within cartouches and paintings in the manner of Boucher, Watteau, and Terriers.
The greatest innovation of this period was the
wide variety of figures, particularly those modelled
by Johann Josef Niedermayer (d.1784), chief modeller from 17 47
. A series of dwarfs copied from engravings by the French printmaker Jacques Callot (1592-1635) is particularly notable. Many were left in the white, while others were painted in very pale colours such as lilac
lemon leon yellow. The bases arc usually a simple pad shape, and arc frequently embellished with a wavy gilt border around the bottom edge.
THE SORGENTHAL PERIOD: 1784–c.1830
After several financial problems at the factory Conrad Sorgel von Sorgenthal was appointed director in 1784. Phasing out the Rococo style in favour of refined Neoclassicism, was responsible for the production of
superb wares equalled only by the Berlin factory. Simple, geometric forms were adopted in line with the severe Neo-classical style, and urn and amphorae shapes were directly copied from antique pieces excavated at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The factory was particularly famous for its tete-a-tete services and solitaires.
The decoration of Vienna wares was among the finest of the period. Coloured grounds with sumptuous gilding and rich painting meant that none of the white body of the porcelain was left showing. Vienna is especially associated with raised gilding with tooled architectural ornament. From 1791, following the example of Sevres, the chemist Josef Leithner developed brilliant ground colours, in particular a claret and a dark blue. The overall effect was enhanced by the fine painting of Classical subjects, topographical views, and botanical Subjects in central or reserved panels. The greatest exponent of botanical subjects was Josef Nigg (active 1800-43), whose most celebrated works are minutely painted flower still-lifes on rectangular plaques.
Figures were made on a limited scale at the end of the 18th century. Generally in biscuit porcelain, they were based on Classical sculptures and Pompeian paintings, or were busts of the imperial family and such luminaries as the composer Haydn. The most important modeller was Anton Grassi (1755-1807), who for several months in 1792 visited Rome, where he sketched and noted the recently excavated Classical sculpture.
After the death of Sorgenthal, Matthias Niedermayer (d.1827) became director. The factory was still producing Neo-classical-style wares, but by the 1830s the restrained 18th-century style had been replaced by the heavier, rounded shapes that characterize the Biedermeier taste. Painters continued to embellish plaques, trays, services, and vases with copies of Old Masters, and original botanical, topographical, and Classical compositions; however, the overall decoration is less rich (often with areas of white porcelain showing) and slightly poorer in execution.
AFTER c.1830
Although it had encountered various problems from the beginning of the 19th century from c.1830 the Vienna

factory entered a serious period of decline, producing inexpensive, rather poor-quality porcelain with transfer-printed decoration to keep up with demand and to try to compete with mass-produced goods, particularly those made in Bohemia. Attempts were made to turn it into an art institute and a model factory, but in 1864 Emperor Francis Joseph ordered its closure.
Subsequently, large quantities of undecorated Vienna porcelain, some dating back to the beginning of the 19th century, were sold off to other factories and decorators. Such wares were decorated in the Classical Revival style of the Sorgenthal period, with heavy gilt borders, Classical motifs, and topographical scenes, often reserved on a claret ground. As the wares were made at the Vienna factory, they bear the underglaze blue shield mark of Vienna and on this basis could be mistaken as original; however, the decoration is much less refined and sometimes verges on extremely coarse. These wares are now described as “Vienna” pieces.
Numerous firms in Bohemia, Silesia, and Germany (particularly Dresden and Thuringia) made their own wares in the Vienna style during the last quarter of the 19th century. The Augarten Factory (est. 1922), in Vienna, continues to reproduce earlier Vienna porcelain, mostly in the Neo-classical and Biedermeier styles; its products are also marked with the underglaze blue shield.
1719-44
• BODY creamy-white hard paste; smoky, thin glaze with greenish hue
• STYLE heavy Baroque forms and dense, symmetrical decoration
• PALETTE iron red, green, and manganese purple for Oriental flowers; pale, delicate colours for European flowers; black, puce, and iron-red monochrome
• DI CORATION Oriental and European flowers,
chinoiseries; battle, hunting, and mythological scenes; latticework and Laub- und Bandelwerk decoration
1744–84
• BODY greyish hard paste; white and glassy glaze
• DECORATION ION European flowers, monochrome landscapes, copies of French and Dutch paintings
• FIGURES left white or painted in pale colours
• BASES pad, sometimes with a wavy gilt border
Marks
This mark was made in underglaze blue from c.1749; it was sometimes impressed mid-1740s
1784—c.1830
• BODY warmer-coloured hard paste
• STYLE Nco-classical, rich Empire, and Biedermeier
• DECORATION raised gilding; claret and dark blue grounds; mythological and Classical scenes and topographical views

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.