Blue Onion by Meissen Porcelain

The Meissen factory began using a logo on its production in 1720, which is early for china manufacturers. The mark is in the form of crossed swords. Over the years, the mark has varied somewhat, with the angle of the swords changing and with the addition of letters or symbols above or below the swords. Any good book on Meissen will have an illustration of the marks with the years used (as best we know).

Beginning in 1763, mold numbers were also impressed in the wares. This is another way to confirm the identification of any given piece.

Ever since its founding, Meissen has continually produced table china and ornamental ware until today. For over the three centuries, the high quality and artistic value of its products has made Meissen desirable to collectors and connoisseurs. Many collections were originally built by titled families and have been given to various museums in Europe. Today collections are created by the wealthy the world over.

Meissen established their own museum in 1916, and added a new visitor's center in 2005. It includes demonstration workshops where visitors can see how the base pieces are molded and how intricate additions are added to form the final piece. If you ever get to the area around Dresden, Germany, you should visit.

Meissen has its own dealer network, but most Meissen is sold by many, many individuals and entities, both new pieces and on the secondary market. Meissen holds its value better than most porcelain, but finding a buyer who will pay what you want for it is a challenge. Seconds are available on market, so beware.

The original Meissen factory was established in 1710 in Albrechtsburg, Saxony, now a part of Germany. In 1861 the factory was moved to Meissen, a town near Dresden. While producing other kinds of ceramics, the owners and workers of the factory worked for several years to develop a formula for hard paste porcelain equal to the Chinese porcelains imported by the Dutch East India Company. Once the process was understood, the factory was established to take advantage of the local deposits of kaolin and potter's clay. At first, the porcelain was decorated with only gold, but colored glazed soon followed. These are still in use today.

The "Meissen blue" under-glaze was developed in the mid-18th century and remains a Meissen secret to this day. Large pieces are covered with this under-glaze, with area reserved for decoration with detailed landscapes, animals, figures, flowers, court scenes, paintings by Watteau and fictional "Chinese" scenes. Meissen also produced porcelain pieces of a solid color which were then sold to outside studios for enamel painting.

Over the years Meissen has created Rococo pieces with elaborate decorations of flowers, frills and putti. The company also produces figurines in 18th-century costumes, with an occasion remodeling of the figure type, like shepherd. Meissen also produced a line of large animals in white, modeled by Johann Joachim Keandler. These mid-18th century figures are sought after today by collectors. In the second half of the 18th century, Meissen started making Neoclassical figures in matte bisque which resembled marble. Meissen also produces a number of dinnerware and decorative ware motifs with dragons, including the purple dragon vase.

The original tableware was plain. Meissen introduced the concept of a complete matching set of tableware in the 1720s. Molds made in 1730s are still in use today, so you can have the same set of china as ruling heads of state in Europe if you want. The popular pattern "Blue Onion" ("Zwiebelmuster" in German) been made at Meissen for 3 centuries, and copied by 60 other companies over time. It name has become to integral to china that it was declared in 1926 to be in the public domain and not a Meissen-only pattern name. Other companies have also marked their product with "Meissen" so the only way to tell true Meissen Blue Onion is by the logo and mold number.

The original red stoneware held crisp details when molded. Once fired, the china was covered with a white porcelain-like glaze and painted. So Meissen pieces with a red body are possibly true and very early Meissen. The first porcelain products reproduced Baroque silver forms and imported Chinese ceramics.