Meissen Porcelain, Europe’s first porcelain, was first produced in 1708 in Germany. The secret of making hard-paste poecelain, once the exclusive province of China, was finally achieved by Johann Friedrich Bottger under the supervision of Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. The entire operation was financed by the King of Saxony, Augustus III.
Production of Meissen porcelain began in 1710 and still continues today in Europe’s oldest surviving factory, the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH. Meissen’s famous signature, crossed blue swords on a white background, is also one of the world’s oldest trademarks.
The first style of porcelain created of the factory was hard red stoneware called Bottgersteinzeug. Three years later production of the more popular white paste porcelain began and was soon in high demand among the aristocrats of Europe. Styles were modeled after early Baroque silver patterns as well as some Asian pottery examples. Meissen’s trademark “Meissen Blue” underglaze first made its appearance in 1723. This introduction is credited to Friedrich August Kottig.
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Sometime after 1850, due to high demand, artists at the Meissen factory began making “modern copies” of earlier 18th century pieces. This was around the same time that the Samson factory attempted to produce imitations of the Meissen porcelain, even marking their items with similar crossed sword markings. The copies weren’t quite the same and could not compare with the fine quality of the original Meissen porcelain.
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