Dresden Porcelain Collection
Encyclopedia
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It belongs to the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the collections of the Saxon electors in the 16th century .Today, the Dresden State Art...
(State Art Collections) of Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is located in the Zwinger Palace
Zwinger
The Zwinger is a palace in Dresden, eastern Germany, built in Baroque style. It served as the orangery, exhibition gallery and festival arena of the Dresden Court....
.
History and description
The collection was founded in 1715 by the Saxon Prince-Elector Augustus the StrongAugustus II the Strong
Frederick Augustus I or Augustus II the Strong was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania ....
, and was originally housed in the Japanese Palace
Japanisches Palais
Japanisches Palais is a Baroque palace in Dresden, eastern Germany, built in 1715. It was extended in 1729-1731, to store the Japanese porcelain collection of Augustus the Strong , although it was never used for this purpose, and instead was used as a library.The Japanisches Palais was partly...
(then known as the "Dutch Palace") on the banks of the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
. It moved into the Johanneum in 1876. The collection largely survived World War II thanks to evacuation, and moved into its current home in the south part of the Zwinger in 1962. Today the collection features 20,000 porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
artefacts.
One strength is the collection of traditional Chinese and Japanese porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
acquired by Augustus the Strong. Above all this includes blue-and-white porcelain from the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and Qing Dynasties
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, in particular the "Dragoon Vases" acquired by Augustus from King Frederick William I
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
in exchange for a regiment of dragoons. There are also colourful famille-verte and famille-rose items, white Dehua ceramics, Japanese Arita porcelain
Imari porcelain
Imari porcelain is the name for Japanese porcelain wares made in the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe extensively from the port of Imari, Saga between latter half of 17th century and former half of 18 th century, Japanese as well as the...
, and ceramics made especially for export.
The other strongpoint is the collection of Saxon
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
porcelain, in particular Meissen porcelain
Meissen porcelain
Meissen porcelain or Meissen china is the first European hard-paste porcelain that was developed from 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger, continued his work and brought porcelain to the market...
. This crockery is decorated partly with Chinese patterns, but also with various European motifs such as scenes from mythology or rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
idylls. There are also numerous sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s made of pure white or painted porcelain, including miniature comedians, musicians and court jesters (Schmiedel and Fröhlich), a table set created for King Frederick Augustus III
Frederick Augustus III of Saxony
This article is about King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. For the elector Frederick Augustus III, see Frederick Augustus I of Saxony.Frederick Augustus III was the last King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.Born in Dresden, Frederick Augustus was the son of King George of Saxony...
, and a tableau of riders belonging to King Augustus III
Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III, known as the Saxon ; ; also Prince-elector Friedrich August II was the Elector of Saxony in 1733-1763, as Frederick Augustus II , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1734-1763.-Biography:Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector...
.
Due to lack of space, not all the items are on permanent display. A new gallery for the East Asian collection was opened in 2006, increasing the exhibition space by a quarter. It was created in a matter of months by the New York architect Peter Marino with a mixture of classical and modern elements. In the modern section, Japanese blue-and-white porcelain is presented on historic tables, in front of panels lacquered
Lacquerware
Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. The lacquer is sometimes inlaid or carved. Lacquerware includes boxes, tableware, buttons and even coffins painted with lacquer in cultures mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere.-History:...
with anthracite grey and cinnabar
Cinnabar
Cinnabar or cinnabarite , is the common ore of mercury.-Word origin:The name comes from κινναβαρι , a Greek word most likely applied by Theophrastus to several distinct substances...
. Marino carried out further redesigns in 2010.
Further reading
- Anette Loesch, Ulrich Pietsch, Friedrich Reichel: Porzellansammlung Dresden - Führer durch die Ständige Ausstellung. Dresden, 1998, ISBN 3932264053.
- Ingelore Menzhausen: Alt-Meißner Porzellan in Dresden. Berlin, 1988, ISBN 3362001424.
External links
- Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Collection) at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen DresdenStaatliche Kunstsammlungen DresdenStaatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It belongs to the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the collections of the Saxon electors in the 16th century .Today, the Dresden State Art...
- Porzellansammlung - Information and history from the Dresden and Saxony tourist website