Antique Jeweled Gilt Encrusted Dresden Porcelain Signed Portrait Cup and Saucer

Dresden porcelain, as a term, is the subject of some confusion. In some contexts, it refers to the hard-paste ceramic wares produced by the workshops that sprang up in and around the Saxon capital in the 19th century. In others, it denotes only the output of one of these, Sächsische Porzellanmanufaktur Dresden, known in English as simply Dresden Porcelain, which was established in 1872 in the city of Freital, Saxony. 

Complicating matters further, early publications about porcelain often used “Dresden” and “Meissen” interchangeably. It is true that the cities of Dresden and Meissen are connected through their long, shared history of decorative arts production and, in fact, most Meissen porcelain was sold in Dresden, the artistic and cultural center of Saxony. 

However, Meissen is the site of the factory that produced the first European porcelain, at the turn of the 18th century, while Dresden did not come into prominence until the mid-19th century, during the high point of the Rococo revival. (Porcelain originated in China, which is why many collectors still seek out what they call "Dresden china.")

And while Meissen is known for manufacturing porcelain, from clay models through finished product, Dresden is celebrated for its decorating studios, of which there were several dozen in and around the city during the 19th century. Their skilled painters often used “blanks” from Meissen as their canvases. So a piece of Dresden porcelain may have been formed and fired at Meissen, painted in Dresden, and ultimately sold in one of that city’s shops.

The figurines, plates and vases produced during the 19th century via this complex process remain appealing to this day, their bright hues and pastoral imagery typical of the Rococo revival, which brought scrollwork, shells, foliage, flowers and fruit back into vogue after decades of restrained neoclassicism and austere Gothic Revival design. Dresden figurines, which like their Meissen counterparts were inspired by the characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, have a witty, cheerful quality that has been likened to that of scenes painted by Watteau and Fragonard.

Before its near-total destruction during World War II, Dresden was home to more than 200 painting studios.

The Dresden style, however, is associated with wares bearing the blue crown mark (Meissen’s mark is a pair of cobalt blue crossed swords), which was first registered in 1883 by Richard Klemm, Donath & Co, Oswald Lorenz, and Adolph Hamann. Prominent painters from this period include Helena Wolfsohn, Franziska Hirsch, Ambrosius Lamm — whose skill in the application of metallic or lustre paints is on lavish display in this dinner service from the 1920s — and Carl Thieme, a master in floral painting, as demonstrated by his decoration on this circa 1901 ram’s head urn. 

Dresden painters also used a decorative technique known as “Dresden lace.” This involved dipping real lace into liquid porcelain and applying it to a figure, which was then fired in a kiln. The fabric would burn away, leaving a fragile, crinoline-like shell — the type of delicate and whimsical detail that characterizes Dresden porcelain, one of Europe’s great ceramic traditions.

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While the Rosenthal Porcelain Factory grew from humble decorating roots — as many pottery companies do — it eventually built a list of universally revered designer and artist partners that included Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí. And after securing an enviable position as a top manufacturer of serveware and dominating the porcelain and bone china markets, Rosenthal expanded into furniture production, working with influential designers Verner Panton, Luigi Colani and Günther Ferdinand Ris and Herbert Selldorf.

German-born Jewish businessman Philipp Rosenthal founded the company in 1879 in Bavaria. It began as his modest workshop where he painted porcelain and encountered success with porcelain ashtrays. Rosenthal hired the best designers and clay modelers he could find. Adolf Oppel designed figurative Art Nouveau pieces, while Eleonore (Lore) Friedrich-Gronau produced decorative objects, namely her graceful porcelain dancer figurines, for the company.

Dinnerware, though, would be a Rosenthal mainstay. Between 1904 and 1910, Rosenthal produced its renowned dinnerware lines such as Donatello, Darmstadt and Isolde. These were introduced as unornamented white pieces — only later were they given their underglaze designs.

Rosenthal founder Philipp, a Catholic of Jewish ancestry, resigned in 1934 as the company’s president due to pressures owing to discriminatory German laws that took shape during the rise of the Nazi regime. Rosenthal died in 1937, and the family fled to America. The company would not regain its footing until 1950 when Rosenthal’s son, Philip, joined the firm and, in 1958, became chairman and dubbed Germany’s “China King.” At its peak, the company had 10,000 employees.

In the 1950s, Rosenthal’s modernist dinnerware was a significant part of the brand’s offerings, and by 1961 they introduced the famed Rosenthal Studio Line. Although furniture designers and ceramicists would lead the list of individuals working with Rosenthal — among them Tapio Wirkkala, Max Weber and Lisa Larson — the company eventually reached out to fine artists, not only Dalí and Warhol but Sandro Chia and Kenny Scharf. Rosenthal also collaborated with fashion designers Gianni Versace and Donatella Versace.

In a daring move in 1972, the company diversified into furniture, collaborating with some of the giants of mid-century modern design. The revolutionary Sunball chair, an icon of Space Age seating crafted by Selldorf and Ris, was among Rosenthal’s stellar successes in this venture.

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