* Meissen porcelain manufactory.

By royal decree in January 1710, the first European porcelain manufactory was opened in Albrechtsburg (the city of Meissen, Dresden district in Saxony, Germany), after the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger made the first porcelain in Europe. The activities of the Meissen manufactory are usually divided into several periods. The first of them - the Böttger period - ended in 1719 with the death of the inventor of porcelain. At first, goblets, glasses, bowls, cups and saucers, snuff boxes, and small haberdashery made of red stone were produced. When decorating, grinding and polishing of products, applied reliefs - acanthus and laurel leaves, and mascarons - were widely used. Gold and silver painting was also used. In 1713, Böttger managed to obtain real hard porcelain - first cream-colored and with a thick shard, and by 1715 - white and thin-walled. The paintings were dominated by Chinese subjects, pastorals, court and everyday scenes. The second period of the Meissen manufactory (1720-1733) began after the death of Böttger, when production was headed by the artist Johann Gregorius Höroldt (1695-1775), who had previously worked in Vienna with du Paquier. This period is usually called “picturesque”, since painting dominates on the products of those years. Herold significantly enriched the palette of colors, introducing fiery red, violet, yellow, emerald colors. The nature of the painting remained focused on oriental samples: Chinese everyday scenes, decor in the “imari” style. In addition to individual items, tableware and large decorative vases were also produced for the palaces of the king and the nobility. After 1730, the oriental theme of decoration faded into the background, giving way to miniatures depicting rural pastorals, palace life, hunting, mounted warriors, gallant scenes inspired by Watteau’s paintings, as well as landscapes, among which views of the sea coast predominated. In the field of miniatures, Meissen artists were unsurpassed masters. The third period (1733-1756) is characterized as “sculptural.” This is associated with the activities of the head of the model workshop, Johann Joachim Kaendler (1731-1774). During his time, sculpture and bas-relief took the dominant place of the previous decorative painting on the smooth surfaces of products. Kaendler’s merits are great both in “pure” sculpture, as well as in the field of molding and plastic decoration of dishes. Kändler developed a number of sculptural series and compositions, which then not only became firmly established in the range of most German factories, but also crossed the borders of other countries. It was Kandler who laid the foundations of the Meissen plastic style, which is characterized by grace and cheerfulness. The fourth period (1756-1774) can be characterized as the beginning of the decline in the level of Meissen porcelain. The Rococo style was replaced by classicism, the main proponent of which was the Parisian sculptor Michel-Victor Acier. True, Kandler still continues to work, creating a number of excellent sculptures. With the death of Kaendler in 1775, the Meissen manufactory lost its leading position. The fifth period (1774-1814) marked the decline of Meissen's glory, despite all the efforts of the new factory director, Count Camillo Marcolini. The quality of the porcelain was still impeccable, but the artistic level continued to decline. The main indicator of this decline is the fact that Meissen, which had been a role model for decades, itself began to imitate other factories. Marcolini tried to maintain the high reputation of Meissen, in particular, with spectacular sculptures with elegant porcelain lace, but after his death in 1814, throughout the 19th century, old forms and patterns were only repeated on products, and often new castings were simply made from old models. In the 20th century, a new artistic search was undertaken in order to master the stylistic features of this time. The conductor of the ideas of functionalism was Paul Berner, the main artist of the factory in the 1920s, who experimented a lot with new forms and types of painting of products. In 1948, further modernization of the style was stopped. From this time in Meissen, to this day, they produce products based on the decor of the 18th century.