European porcelain

Porcelain production in Europe followed in the wake of increasing contact and trade with China in the sixteenth century, initially through the Portuguese East India Company. Later, the Dutch East India Company imported fine porcelain wares from China and Japan, where the methods and techniques of production had been known for centuries, developing in Europe only in the early 1700s. 

Porcelain’s European origins are associated with Meissen, a German manufactory established by Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Porcelain was highly valued as an indicator of wealth and refined taste; by the eighteenth century there was a kind of mania for it, as the French courts of Louis XIV and XV established a level of extravagance and ostentatious luxury that was the envy of Europe.

In France, the most renowned producer of fine porcelain was the Royal Porcelain Manufactory at Sèvres. Founded in 1738, its administration was taken over in 1759 by King Louis XV and his mistress, Madame Pompadour. Sèvres attracted some of Europe’s best alchemists, artists and designers, who produced work of high quality with innovative glazing and enamelling techniques. Its prolific production in the nineteenth century incorporated old as well as new styles and decorative schemes.

This grouping includes English, German and French porcelain from manufacturers such as Sèvres, Meissen, Worcester and Chelsea. Much of it reflects the rococo-revival style popular in Europe and England during the nineteenth century, which was seen to reflect the wealth and elegance of Europe’s royal courts. Many new hotels of the time, and private residences of the very wealthy, also adopted the florid, ornate detailing and asymmetry of this style.