European Porcelain to End of 18th Century

Meissen remained the premier porcelain factory in Europe until the Seven Years' War, which broke out in 1756, when Frederick the Great virtually sacked the place. Technically ex cellent work was done under the direction of Count Marcolini (1774-1813), but the former position was never regained. Sevres fashions were copied, and an artist actually from Sevres, Michel Victor Acier, made many characteristic models in the sentimental style, whilst an academic sculptor, Christoph Jiichtzer, made bis cuit figures in the classical manner.

Following the fashion set in Saxony, many other German princes sought to establish or patronise china-factories, and by 1760 no fewer than eight had come into existence in this way. Broadly, Meissen styles prevailed until about 1760, when Sevres fashions and the neo-classical began to predominate. The de pendence upon Meissen and Sevres, however, was very much less than a superficial view would indicate.

In

1718 a runaway Meissen workman, Christoph Konrad Hun ger, enabled Claude du Paquier to start a factory at Vienna, which was in 1744 sold to the state. Much of du Paquier's china was decorated by independent enamellers (Hausmaler); the fac tory's own styles were remarkable for the frequent use of a black (Schwarzlot) and other monochromes in rich baroque designs. Mayerhofer became director in 1751. Vienna figures of the period about 1760 have a very distinct and airy charm. In 1784 a pros perous period began under the directorship of Konrad von Sorgen thal. A modeller Anton Grassi (who had previously made some lively enamelled figures) began to use biscuit with success, whilst in the last decade of the century was made the porcelain with elaborate miniature pictures in the style of oil paintings, with rich gilding and coloured grounds which was formerly considered the best, and still is the most famous, Vienna work.

At Berlin, a wool manufacturer Wilhelm Kaspar Wegely made porcelain of fine quality, including figures, from 1752 to 1757. A few years later, a financier named Gotzkowsky started a factory which in 1763 was taken over by Frederick the Great. Berlin table-wares tend to favour simple colouring with a special fond ness for pink diaper (Mosiiik) borders. Some good figures were made by Friedrich Elias Meyer (brought from Meissen in the Seven Years' War), his brother, Christoph, and others.

With the help of one Lowenfinck from Meissen, porcelain was made at a faience-factory at Hochst as early as 1746, under the patronage of the Elector of Mainz, but not in any quantity until 1760. Very lively figures in Meissen rococo styles preceded those

made by Johann Peter Melchior (appointed 1767), upon which the factory's fame chiefly rests. Melchior's very personal style shares the same inspiration as the contemporary Sevres models: he showed an equal mastery in the treatment of the nude, in figures of children, and in portrait busts and plaques. All have the smooth, not glossy surface and soft colouring that are char acteristic of Hochst.

The factory at Furstenberg in Brunswick was established in 1753 by Duke Charles I. with the help of Johann Benckgraff of Hochst. A feature of the early porcelain was the use of elaborate moulded patterns designed to disguise the imperfections of the material. In the last twenty years of the i8th century bis cuit was used for a series of portrait medallions in white on blue.

The Bavarian state factory, founded in 1747 at Neudeck, and transferred in 1761 to Nymphenburg, is chiefly famous for its figures, for which Franz Anton Bustelli (fl. 1754-63) made models which are perhaps the finest plastic expression of rococo. The same qualities, however, distinguish the delicately painted table-wares and vases of the factory. Bustelli was 'followed by Auliczek, who in turn gave place in 1797 to the Hochst and Frankenthal modeller J. P. Melchior.

The Frankenthal factory was founded by Paul Hannong of Strasbourg in 1755 under the patronage of the Elector Palatine. The early figures modelled by J. W. Lanz, their subjects chiefly drawn from contemporary life, are amongst the best produced in Germany, whilst the classical models of Konrad Link (made 1762-66) share the largeness of style of the best later work of Kaendler. Other able modellers were J. G. Liick, and Karl Gott lieb Luck, and in 1779 J. P. Melchior came to Frankenthal from Hochst.

Though the porcelain of Ludwigsburg is seldom free from im perfections and generally grey in tone, it was the medium of some excellent figures, for which amongst others the sculptor J. C. W. Beyer (1764-67) made some models combining rococo character with the classical style. The factory was founded in 1756 and taken over in 1758 by Charles Eugene, Duke of Wurttemberg.