Porcelain A History from the Heart of Eu rope Suzanne L. Marchand PRINCE TON UNIVERSITY PRESS Prince ton and Oxford Copyright © 2020 by Prince ton University Press Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to permissions@press . princeton . edu Published by Prince ton University Press 41 William Street, Prince ton, New Jersey 08540 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR press . princeton . edu All Rights Reserved ISBN 978-0-691-18233-9 ISBN (e- book) 978-0-691-20198-6 British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available Editorial: Eric Crahan and Thalia Leaf Production Editorial: Mark Bellis Text Design: C. Alvarez- Gaffin Jacket Design: Jason Alejandro Production: Jacqueline Poirier Publicity: Maria Whelan and Kate Farquhar- Thomson Copyeditor: Kathleen Kageff Jacket Credit: from the Onion Pattern “Style” dish; ® Meissen This book has been composed in Sabon LT Std and Ogg Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of Amer i ca 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To all the women— and men!— who gather around my family table: Betsy, Victor, Jean, JoAnn and Nia, Jeannie and Sotiros, Paul and Beth, and Charles and Henry Contents List of Illustrations and Tables ix Note on Currencies and Other Abbreviations xiii Acknowl edgments xvii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Reinventing the Recipe 8 Chapter 2 The Challenge of Wedgwood and the Rise of the Private Firm 60 Chapter 3 Making, Marketing, and Consuming in the “Golden Age” 106 Chapter 4 Surviving the Revolutions 154 Chapter 5 The Discrete Charms of Biedermeier Porcelain 194 Chapter 6 Of Capitalism and Cartels: The Glory Days of the Private Producer, 1848–1914 240 Chapter 7 Porcelain, the Wilhelmine Plastic 291 viii • Contents Chapter 8 The Fragility of Interwar Porcelain 330 Chapter 9 From Cold War Won der to Con temporary White Elephant: Does the Story End H ere? 377 Notes 415 Bibliography 467 Image Credits 487 Index 491 Illustrations and Tables Figures 1.1 White Lion teacup 9 1.2 Böttger pre sents the Arcanum 36 2.1 German kitchen, ca. 1820 70 2.2 Imitation Wedgwood medallion 77 2.3 Gotthelf Greiner and sons 98 2.4 Turkish cup 100 3.1 Albrechtsburg, Meissen 120 3.2 The “Blue Onion” 132 3.3 Meissen factory interior 134 3.4 “Pagode” 141 3.5 J. J. Kändler, “Lady and Fox” 144 3.6 Laocoön mini- bust 148 3.7 Princesses in biscuit 150 4.1 Frederick William III teacup 169 4.2 Villeroy & Boch manufactory, Mettlach 190 5.1 Café Reale, Dresden 203 5.2 Semper’s Meissen vase 213 5.3 Battle of Leipzig commemorative teacup 218 5.4 Biedermeier pipe 222 6.1 Women tile makers at work 265 6.2 Marvelous “mosaic” tiles 274