Meissen Factory

We started with some history about porcelain and the Meissen factory and then covered the basic parts i.e.: dinnerware, figurines, art ware and design. Even though I have worked with Meissen porcelain items since 1979, there was much I had to learn and Wolf was a great teacher.

I drove everyone in the group crazy with all my questions but I was not only interested in the porcelain itself, I was fascinated by what was most popular in each country such as patterns, specific figurines, colors, etc. It really varied from country to country and about the only thing the U.S. has in common is the Blue Onion pattern. This is the first pattern produced in porcelain outside of China and is still the most popular Meissen pattern would wide today.

Touring the Factory museum was one of the highlights for me because there were so many things there that I had never even seen in books. Some of the vases were as tall as me and they had one sculpture that had multiple figures and archways with what I would describe as an open bell tower that must have been 5-6" high and 20' or more in length. This was the largest piece that Meissen has ever done. The most unique piece for me was the pipe organ that had Meissen porcelain pipes. I cannot imagine how difficult it was to get the sound right for each pipe!