Dresden and Porcelain

The first European porcelain was created in Dresden between 1707 and 1709 In 2019 Meissen and Dresden remind the 300th anniversary of the inventor of Europan porcelain

Release time : 2018-10-15 15:00:18

source : Dresden Marketing Board

is one of the most popular day trip destinations from Dresden. The very first pieces were wholly beholden to the Asian originals. Many Dresden sculptors experimented with the new material. Johann Joachim Kändler (1706-1775) developed new forms, Johann Gregorius Höroldt (1696-1775) became the first prominent European painter of porcelain.

As early as 1710 the white porcelain was already being sold at the Leipzig Messe trade fair. And what did August do with the proceeds? He bought porcelain, of course. Because in 1717 the Saxon ruler decided to convert today's “Japanese Palace” into a porcelain palace. A staggering amount of money was needed to realise this enormous venture. August sold 600 of his best soldiers to his Prussian rival Friedrich Wilhelm I., who turned them into his Dragoon Regiment. In return, the Saxon ruler received 151 East Asian porcelain s. The largest pieces, produced in China between 1662 and 1722, are today known as the “Dragoon vases” and grace the Dresden Porcelain Collection.

August the Strong died in 1733 owing the Meissen Porcelain Factory 47,926 Talers. Although his porcelain palace project was never finished, the Japanese Palace with its curved roof, magnificent gable reliefs and the in ion “The porcelain-producing countries bestow their treasures on Saxony” remains as a legacy. Dresden’s Zwinger has meanwhile accommodated the approximately 20,000 porcelain s since 1962. The Porcelain Collection is today the largest museum of its kind in the world. Of the approximately 20,000 inventoried porcelain works, about 3,000 are currently on display. The Porcelain Collection was expanded in 2006 by the East Asian Gallery, conceived by the New York designer Peter Marino.

After the death of August the Strong, Count Brühl, who was just as artistically minded as he was enterprising, not only rose to Prime Minister but also to director of the Meissen Porcelain Factory. In 1736, he had