In the early 1700s craftsmen in Meissen, a town in Saxony, Germany, near Dresden, discovered a process to make hard-fired porcelain as fine as the porcelain then being imported from China. The Meissen artisans were supported in this effort by the ruler of Saxony, Augustus II, whose coat of arms the Meissen craftsmen adapted as the mark of genuine Meissen porcelain—two cobalt blue crossed swords on the base of each piece.
Over the course of the next 300 years, many German craftsmen began to work in fine porcelain, creating elegant and elaborate tableware, figurines, and formal decorative items, such as urns and candelabra.
Dresden Lace and Porcelain Animals and Birds
By the 19th century, craftsmen in Dresden, Germany, were also beginning to work in porcelain. At the height of the Rococo revival dozens of small shops were operating, often using blanks created elsewhere and embellishing them with elaborate designs, three-dimensional elements such as porcelain flowers, gilt paint and the famous Dresden Lace, according to the Antique China and Porcelain Web site.
The frozen lace on many Dresden and Meissen pieces was produced by dipping real lace in liquid porcelain and then attaching the lace to figurines such as ballerinas or ladies in elaborate gowns, often engaged in aristocratic pastimes, such as playing the harp or piano. The result is an airy confection of porcelain lace so delicate it can be damaged by the brush of a finger.
These craftsmen, however, also produced more whimsical pieces, such as an orchestra of monkeys, or amazingly lifelike animals and birds, which can be found on the Replacements.com website.
Identifying Meissen and Dresden Figurines
Most porcelain is marked on the base with the manufacturer’s trademark. Meissen, which is still operating today as Meissen Manufaktur, had used the crossed sword mark since the 1700s, according to the Meissen Web site.
Dresden shops usually used a blue crown in some form with other elements that identify the individual craftsman, according to Antique Porcelain Marks and More.
In genuine Meissen, the mark is always beneath the glaze, whereas the Dresden marks are sometimes above the glaze, even in some cases obscuring the mark of the maker of the blank piece.
Meissen provides authoritative identification services. While many pieces of porcelain are available in antique stores and online, care should be taken to investigate and authenticate the pieces as genuine Dresden or Meissen. Many other areas of Germany also produced fine porcelain figurines in the 19th and 20th century, but pieces from the areas of Saxony around Dresden are highly prized and increasingly valuable.
While Meissen escaped Allied bombing at the end of World War II, most of the porcelain industry of Dresden itself was destroyed in 1945 and has never fully recovered.
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