Hanau faience factory
The Hanauer faience presented as a manufacturing plant from 1661 to 1810 in Hanau faience ago.
prehistory
Because of political unrest in China, porcelain imports to Europe have declined since 1657. As a result, the demand for faience increased, which in Germany could only be satisfied by Delft faience at first . Faience was - just after the very expensive, imported Chinese porcelain - the leading ceramic , a luxury good.
On March 1, 1661, two in ranged Frankfurt -based Dutch , verschwägerte merchants, Daniel Behagel and Jacobus van der Walle the Council of the Neustadt Hanau the request for permission one to be allowed to build a "Porzelain-Backerey" after the Council the city of Frankfurt was reluctant to accept this request. The ruling Count of the County of Hanau , Friedrich Casimir , fitted the project well into his early mercantile economic policy. The applicants received a positive decision just a few days later. The import of the raw materials and the export of the goods should be duty-free .
production
Since the goods were produced in competition with Delft faience, they first imitated them. This market strategy also meant that the items were in no way labeled or signed as originating from Hanau in the first few decades . As early as 1665, a competing manufacturer was founded in Frankfurt am Main with the same sales policy. The two production sites, which are so close to each other, lured each other's specialists away, which meant that the products were so similar that in many cases they were difficult to distinguish and assign. Blue painting, which imitates Chinese porcelain models , is characteristic. In the 18th century, other colors were added.
The manufactory acquired the house built by François de le Boë in 1602 on Neustädter Markt at the corner of Römerstrasse 15 and Glockenstrasse (“To the City of Antwerp”) and stayed here until the end of operations in 1810. The clay pits were near Bischofsheim .
Decline
Johann Friedrich Böttger , Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and Gottfried Pabst von Ohain produced white porcelain from kaolin in Meißen from 1708 , as it was previously only known from China. This created serious competition for faience and it was ousted from the European market as the top ceramic product. However, the first advantage of faience was that it was a lot cheaper than porcelain. In the middle of the 18th century the Hanau manufactory was able to produce again successfully on a large scale. In 1757 she paid 60,000 florins to the employees alone . The competition grew stronger and stronger: In addition to the porcelain, it was also faience from other factories founded in the area in Offenbach am Main (1739) and Flörsheim am Main (1765). In addition, the price of porcelain fell continuously. Until 1787, the manufacture remained in the hands of members of the founding families. The manufacture was able to hold up until 1810 and was then given up.
literature
- Hugo Birkner : Hanauer faience. In: Hanau. Urban and countryside. A home book for school and home. Hanauer Geschichtsverein, Hanau 1954, pp. 397–400.
- Reinhard Dietrich : Production waste from the Hanauer Fayence Manufactory - an excavation. In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter . Vol. 30, 1988, pp. 335-346.
- Ludwig von Döry: Faience of the Historisches Museum Frankfurt am Main (= small writings of the Historisches Museum Frankfurt. H. 3, ZDB -ID 536421-8 ). Historical Museum Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 1958.
- Ludwig von Döry: Faience and porcelain from Hessian factories. Peters, Hanau 1964.
- Fried Lübbecke : Hanau. City and county (= Famous Art Places . 85, ZDB -ID 515789-4 ). Seemann, Cologne 1951, p. 238 ff.
- Ernst Zeh: Hanauer faience. A contribution to the history of German ceramics (= contributions to the art history of Hesse and the Rhine-Main area. 1, ZDB -ID 526693-2 ). Elwert, Marburg i. H. 1913.
Web links
- The Hanau faience, text and images on the pages of the Hanau History Association