Lime china factory

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Porcelain factory Kalk GmbH
legal form Company with limited liability
founding around 1850, 1900
resolution 1976
Seat Kalk , Cologne ; Eisenberg , Thuringia
Number of employees 350 (around 1921)
Branch porcelain

The Kalk porcelain factory was founded in Kalk near Cologne around 1850 and was sold to Eisenberg in Saxony-Altenburg in 1900 . After an eventful company history with frequent changes of ownership and business interruptions, the Kalk porcelain factory in Eisenberg was closed in 1976.

history

Porcelain factory Ducrot (1850–1873)

A porcelain factory was founded in Cologne-Kalk around 1850 . The Cologne address book names the following companies: Ducrot, Andreas, porcelain manufacturer in Kalk (1857) and Ducrot, Alcide, porcelain and refractory stones in Kalk (1859).

Around 1861 the Frenchman Alcide-André Ducrot, born around 1815 in Chantilly / Département Oise , asked in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel for permission to manufacture porcelain for the porcelain factory Ducrot & Co in Oberkassel. Alcide-André Ducrot said he had lived in Cologne-Kalk for ten years before 1860, headed a porcelain factory as director for two years and ran porcelain manufacture independently for eight years. Obviously this was the Ducrot porcelain factory in Cologne-Kalk. The Cologne address book names the following entry for Cologne-Kalk 1874: “ Ducrot AA Porzellanfabr ., Hauptstr. 73 ". In 1873 Ducrot handed over the business to Gottfried Eickel.

Porcelain factory Gottfried Eickel (1873–1877)

The factory was called Porzellanfabrik Gottfried Eickel from 1873 and employed 31 people that year. In the years 1876 and 1877, Kalker Hauptstr. 71 called. From 1878 to 1882 there are no entries in the address book of the city of Cologne about a porcelain factory in Kalk. Obviously the factory was shut down during this time.

Porcelain factory EA Müller (1881–1886)

In 1883 the factory traded as Müller, EA , porcelain factory in Kalk. In 1883 the company had 80 to 100 workers and had its own painting department. It manufactures flower vases , tableware and luxury items with applied flowers, smoke traps as well as smoke and ladies' toilet services, pomade and powder jars and powder bottles. Pepper, salt and mustard dishes were also made. Export: as above. Two years later, Wilhelm Cremers joined the management team and from 1885 it became the Porzellan Manufactur Müller & Cremers , Hauptstr. 73 led.

Cologne Porcelain Manufactory EA Müller (1887–1896)

From 1887 EA Müller is named as the sole owner of the Cologne Porcelain Manufactory EA Müller . In 1890 the name was changed to Kölner Porzellan Manufactur AG. The sole director of the stock corporation was initially EA Müller, a year later he took over the management together with Robert Erfurth. During this time the company in Kalk was expanded. In 1887 the porcelain factory had further branches in Cologne, in Friesenstrasse 15 (from 1888–1889 Friesenstrasse 11) and in Mühlenbach 16. The factory employed 187 workers at this time. In addition to tableware with blue underglaze decors, chamotte stones were also made . The company's products were awarded a silver medal at an international industrial exhibition in Edinburgh and a gold medal in Cologne. The director of the factory was G. Faist in 1893.

The following were manufactured in 1893: table and coffee utensils, cruets, sturdy dishes for commercial use, smoke traps as well as luxury items and blasters for gas lamps and patented insulators, some of which were also exported. Coffee, table and laundry services were decorated in the painting workshop.

Porcelain factory Kalk GA Seiffert (1896–1900)

From 1896 the factory operated as the Kalk GA Seiffert porcelain factory in Cologne's main street 73 . The factory is owned by Gustav Adolf Seiffert in 1896 (Kalk, Hauptstrasse 34). In 1897 Gustav Schwabe & Wilhelm Vogt took over the company, which they sold to Geyer & Koerbitz in Eisenberg (Thuringia) at the beginning of 1900 .

In 1896: utensils were manufactured. Specialty: blue under glaze and chamotte stones. Own painting and own kaolin pits. The porcelain brand from this production period were two crossed arrows.

Porcelain factory Kalk GmbH (1900–1976)

Porzellanfabrik Kalk GmbH was founded in Eisenberg on January 1st, 1900 for economic reasons. The shareholders were Martha Koerbitz, b. Geyer and her brother Wilhelm Geyer, both from Eisenberg and Gustav Schwabe and Wilhelm Vogt, both from Cologne-Kalk. At the Eisenberg site there had been an earthenware factory since 1883, which, as the Eisenberg earthenware factory Geyer & Körbitz, had been owned by the merchants Wilhelm Geyer and his brother-in-law Ernst Emil Huldreich Körbitz since 1888. At the end of the 19th century, the company ran into economic difficulties, which should be resolved by the merger with the porcelain factory Kalk. The old company buildings of the Kalk porcelain factory, GA Seiffert in Cologne-Kalk were demolished in 1901. The Cologne facility was dismantled and almost the entire workforce was relocated to Eisenberg in Thuringia. The forms and models from Cologne continued to be used in Eisenberg. The capital merger and the takeover of the casting molds made it possible to increase production capacities in Eisenberg significantly. In Cologne, Komödienstraße 14, an office with a warehouse was set up, which was managed by Wilhelm Vogt from 1900 to 1905 and in which the porcelain now made in Thuringia was sold in Cologne. This office was entered in the commercial register at the Cologne District Court under HRB 593 old until 1909 . The Eisenberg partner Wilhelm Geyer left the company in 1901 and the Cologne partner Gustav Schwabe took over the Reichenberg porcelain factory in 1903. The business was provisionally continued by the Cologne authorized representative Karl Ehlert.

By 1912, the production facilities were modernized, electrified, and expanded with two additional kilns and a steam engine . The company produced coffee and tableware, mostly with blue underglaze decorations , and took part in the Leipzig trade fair regularly until 1915 . The porcelain was delivered to Cologne, Hanover, Northern Germany, Westphalia and also abroad to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and France. Between 1910 and 1914, a total of 316 employees and homeworkers worked in the Eisenberg factory.

The First World War marked a sharp cut in company management and production. After the beginning of the First World War, production had to be suspended for several weeks due to a lack of coal. In the summer of 1915 , the managing director Karl Ehlert and the accountant of the company Reinhard Horn fell at the front.

After the First World War, the new economic start began with Erich Geyer and the new managing director Rudolph Körbitz, descendants of the company's founders. After the death of Erich Geyer, his wife Minna continued the business until her death in 1951. In the 1920s, the company mainly produced white utensils or tableware decorated with Indian blue decorations. During the inflation of 1923, the factory was able to maintain its position on the market thanks to its good international contacts with the delivery of goods against foreign exchange . In 1928 a powerful mass mill was built. Before the outbreak of the global economic crisis at the end of the 1920s, the company produced 800 tons of porcelain goods annually  in four kilns. On January 26, 1935, a fire destroyed a large part of the porcelain molds and production facilities, including two kilns. After 14 weeks of reconstruction, production could be resumed with four kilns.

The time of National Socialism again led to economic difficulties, as the procurement of raw materials became increasingly difficult. The ban on gold processing also affected porcelain painting, and people were forced to switch to different colored border and decorative decorations. During the Second World War , the company had great difficulties in maintaining production, as a labor shortage that could hardly be compensated became noticeable in the course of the war.

After the Second World War, the Eisenberg production facility was located in the Soviet zone of occupation and the shareholders continued to operate as a GmbH from summer 1945 until June 1953. From 1946 onwards, the dishes were also decorated by painting on the glaze. After the temporary flight of two partners to the West and the withdrawal of capital, the company was managed in trust by the Eisenberg district for a few months . The division of Germany initially caused domestic sales to collapse. Eisenberger products have now been exported to the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries . In Germany, the Kalk porcelain factory supplied the trade organization and consumption .

On March 23, 1954 the GmbH became the limited partnership Porzellanfabrik Kalk Nachf (olger). Geyer, Koerbitz & Co . transferred and gradually nationalized by June 1, 1973 through the gradual entry of state shareholders such as the Investitionsbank Berlin and the porcelain factory VEB Triptis and the porcelain factory Kahla and transferred to a state- owned company . Like other smaller porcelain factories in Thuringia, the factory was closed three years later by VEB Porzellanwerke Kahla. In 1997, the factory buildings in Eisenberg were demolished to make the property available for a shopping center.

Product range

Sauce boat with straw decoration around 1900

In the early years of production after 1900, the Kalk porcelain factory produced coffee and table services for private and commercial use, porcelain menages, cabarets, laundry services and luxury items. Shortly after the company was founded, its own porcelain painting was set up, focusing on blue, popular underglaze decors, e.g. B. onion pattern , everlasting flower pattern , straw decor and Indian blue decors. The early patterns and shapes were continued, modified and modernized in Thuringia. In 1907 the company won a plagiarism lawsuit over a straw flower decoration by Arnold Krog of the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory before the Danish Supreme Court. The porcelain forms were made with smooth and ribbed surfaces, broken bars, pearl ribbons and rocallia. The early decoration of the porcelain parts was exclusively hand-painted, from the 1920s onwards, decors were increasingly stamped, printed or applied to the surfaces with shifting pictures. In the post-war period, the porcelain factory also produced collection dishes in various shapes and decors.

Successful forms of service offered by the company for decades were:

  • Shape stick handle , up to max. 1935
  • Service form A , octagonal basic form with different decors, up to max. 1935
  • Service form B , smooth basic form with different decors, after 1928
  • Service form C , up to max. 1935
  • Service form E, ribbed or stepped basic form with various decors, probably until 1935
  • Service form P , basic form in relief, until 1935
  • Service form T , spherical tea service, until 1935
  • Feston , 1935 until after the Second World War
  • Form 138 , after 1933, takeover of Form after the Rauenstein porcelain factory closed, mainly with Delft decor
  • Form Ernst 1932 , 1935 to 1940
  • Baroque shape , mid-1930s
  • Form Inge , ribbed basic form, around 1938–1945
  • Form Irene , ribbed basic form, 1940s
  • New Baroque shape , probably from the late 1930s
  • Form Pompadour , probably from 1968/1972

Distinguishing features Cologne-Kalk / Eisenberg

The distinction between pieces made of Cologne-Kalk (before 1900) and from Eisenberg (after 1900) is made by the shape used, the brand and the porcelain shard. Example of a detail: Older, neo-conical coffee pots, milk jugs and sugar bowls have e.g. B. a thick, curved base, while modernized have a thin, horizontal base. If the porcelain mark was applied with a brush and not with a stamp, this is also an indication of an older piece. The Rhenish porcelain factories also mainly used French china clay. In 1896, however, it was stated in the address book of the ceramics industry that they had their own kaolin pits. All of this has an impact on the color of the porcelain.

Museum exhibits

The Cologne City Museum owns some porcelain pieces with a straw decoration from around 1900, including a serving and bread bowl and a coffee pot with 6 cups, breakfast cups and cake plates. The German Historical Museum in Berlin also has a sugar bowl with a blue painting "straw flower pattern" from the 1920s in its holdings. Three service parts in the "everlasting flower pattern" are also exhibited in the Jever Castle Museum.

Company brand

Porcelain brand 1930s

The company's Kalker porcelain brand originally shows two acute-angled or right-angled, crossed arrows, which can point both up and down. A total of 26 different variants of the porcelain brands are known. In the 1920s, the tableware items were also marked with arrows crossed at right angles in a double circle with the lettering • KALK • and a crown . In the 1930s, preference was given to using a trademark with arrows crossed at right angles, with points pointing downwards and the word mark Kalk under the arrows in cursive. Sometimes the name of the decoration was also noted in cursive above the arrows.

In the GDR , the crossed arrows were also used as a company brand with various features of origin (including GDR, Made in GDR ) and decor names ( indigo, Japan blue, cobalt 66, antiqua and others). In the 1950s, an overglaze mark with acute-angled crossed arrows was used for certain items of tableware, surrounded by a wreath and the letters "P" on the top, "K" on the left and "E" on the right and a crown above.

literature

  • Greven's address book for the city of Cologne 1857–1900
  • Henriette Meynen: Kalk and Humboldt / Gremberg. (= City tracks. Monuments in Cologne. Volume 7). Bachem, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7616-1020-3 , pp. 319-320.
  • Kalk Porcelain Factory: History of the Kalk Porcelain Factory 1900–1950 . Hellas-Druck Rudolf Petri, Jena 1950.
  • Hans Seeling: Düsseldorfer Heimatblätter, Das Tor, Heft 4/1962, Die Porzellanfabrik Ducrot & Co. , Pp. 215–217.
  • Gereon Roeseling: Between Rhine and Mountain: The story of Kalk, Vingst, Humboldt / Gremberg, Höhenberg . JP Bachem, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7616-1623-6 , p. 53.
  • Alexander Krings and Jost Rebentisch: Cologne porcelain, faience and earthenware in the 18th and 19th centuries (= small writings on Cologne city history. Volume 11) Cologne 2002.
  • Jörg Petermann and Roland Pöpel: History of Eisenberger Porcelain. Establishment, boom, prosperity and decline of an industry. Edited by the city museum "Klötznersches Haus", Eisenberg 1999.
  • Ludwig Danckert: Handbook of European porcelain . Prestel, Munich / Berlin / London / New York, ISBN 978-3-7913-3281-9 , pp. 154f.

Web links

Commons : Porzellanfabrik Kalk  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Krings and Jost Rebentisch: Cologne porcelain, faience and earthenware in the 18th and 19th centuries . In: Small writings on Cologne city history . tape 11 . Cologne 2002, p. 48 ff .
  2. ↑ Address book of the ceramic industry 1893 , p. 78, publisher: Der Rundesaal, Müller & Schmidt, Coburg 1893.
  3. ^ Anton Carl Greven (Ed.): Address book of Cologne and the surrounding area 1898 . Part V. Greven's Cologne address book publishing house, Cologne 1898, p. 113 .
  4. ↑ Address book of the ceramic industry . 1896.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Kalk Porcelain Factory (ed.): History of the Kalk Porcelain Factory 1900–1950 . Hellas-Druck Rudolf Petri, Jena 1950.
  6. ^ Jörg Petermann and Roland Pöpel: History of the Eisenberger porcelain. Establishment, boom, prosperity and decline of an industry . Ed .: City Museum "Klötznersches Haus". Eisenberg 1999.
  7. ^ Pictures from the demolition of the factory in 1997. In: porzellanfieber.de. December 3, 2014, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  8. ^ Stina Teilmann-Lock: The Object of Copyright: A Conceptual History of Originals and Copies in Literature, Art and Design . In: Routledge Research in Intellectual Property . Routledge, 2015, ISBN 978-1-317-80460-4 , pp. 128 f .
  9. ↑ Günther Schleu: Coffee pot, shape of broken rod, straw pattern, Indian blue. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Günther Schleu: Rod Henkel form. In: porzellanfieber.de. July 13, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  11. ^ Günther Schleu: Form A, grape decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  12. ^ Günther Schleu: Form B, stamped in Indian blue. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Günther Schleu: Form C with straw pattern. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 17, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Günther Schleu: Form E ribbed with China blue decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  15. ^ Günther Schleu: Form E, stepped. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  16. ^ Günther Schleu: Form P, straw decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. November 15, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Günther Schleu: Form T, spherical shape, Indian blue decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  18. ^ Günther Schleu: Form Feston, decor Art Deco. In: porzellanfieber.de. April 27, 2014, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  19. ^ Günther Schleu: Form 138, Delft decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  20. ^ Günther Schleu: Form Ernst 1932, gold line decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. December 9, 2014, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Günther Schleu: Baroque shape, gold border decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  22. ^ Günther Schleu: Form Inge, decor flower border. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  23. ↑ Günther Schleu: Form Irene, red decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  24. ^ Günther Schleu: New Baroque form, Rosenzweig decor. In: porzellanfieber.de. September 4, 2013, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  25. ^ Günther Schleu: Form Pompadour, flower ribbon decor. In: porellanfieber.de. November 24, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015 .
  26. ↑ Object database of the German Historical Museum , accessed on December 13, 2015
  27. ^ Jever Castle Museum: Service parts of the Kalk Porcelain Factory, Eisenberg , accessed on December 13, 2015
  28. ↑ Kalk Porcelain Factory: Company History - Porcelain Brands. Retrieved December 13, 2015 .
  29. ^ Robert E. Röntgen: Marks on German, Bohemian, and Austrian Porcelain: 1710 to the Present . In: Schiffer Book for Collectors . 3. Edition. Schiffer Pub., 2007, ISBN 978-0-7643-2521-2 .