Rauenstein porcelain factory
The porcelain factory Rauenstein was a porcelain manufacturer from Rauenstein ( Thuringia ), which existed between 1783 and 1930 and was known for its wide range of products. The “Rauenstein” brand is valued by collectors.
history
In 1783 Friedrich Christian Greiner bought the long vacant Rauenstein Castle in Rauenstein (near Sonneberg ), one of the poorest forest villages in what was then the Meininger Oberland, and founded the porcelain factory Friedrich Christian Greiner and Sons . The castle became a production workshop and the factory owner also took up residence there. After a few experiments, the first good porcelain firing succeeded in October 1784.
Mainly simple coffee and tea sets according to Meissner style were produced . Following this example, everlasting flower patterns in blue underglaze and mulberry purple were painted in proper style on porcelain with the surface of a broken rod . However, the parts were often made of thicker porcelain than Meissen's, which led to its popularity among broader sections of the population. In 1794 the factory was already employing 174 workers. In the first few years, the company exported its products all the way to Vienna - ox and horse carts were the main means of transport. Only in 1910 was the place opened up by the Eisfeld – Sonneberg railway line.
After the death of Johann Friedrich Greiner in 1820, the community of heirs sold a part to GH Wirth in 1849 and again in 1859. After the death of GH Wirth, his stake in the company fell to three heirs, creating successor companies. In 1874 Ms. Christiane Wirth is the owner.
In 1881 Franklin Georgii, a left-wing liberal member of the Meininger Landtag , took over the company and led it to economic success with the Delft decors production line, among other things. Georgii died in 1900. In 1901, under the influence of the banker Gustav Strupp , the company was renamed the Rauensteiner Porzellanfabrik Aktiengesellschaft.
In 1906 the factory employed 650 workers. In 1913 Rauenstein offered its widest range of products. In 1930 the company was closed for reasons of profitability and competition. If Rauenstein had been sold, the competitor Porzellanfabrik Kahla in Kahla would have suffered from the manufacture of the extensive business in kitchen sets. The closure of Rauenstein was in the interests of the Strupp Group, which not only owned Rauenstein, but also Kahla.
The Museum Neues Schloss Rauenstein has an extensive collection of porcelain from the Rauenstein porcelain factory.
Product range
Utensils, children's dishes, pipe bowls, pipe stubs, fireproof utility porcelain, decors: blue model (also with additional gold painting)
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Figures, knickknacks, luxury items, 1893–1903 luxury items (busts from Greek mythology), 1903–1930 doll heads, votive kettles, figures of saints, Indian deities: Gonesh and Rhata Krisna.
Kitchen sets (storage jars, etc.) |
Catalogs / price lists that still exist today offer an insight into the product range. Under the name of Preis-Courant , they offer images and names of the shapes, decors and prices used. In the price courant of company I from 1908 the following decor names can be found: Crown Derby, blue onion, purple all straw without gold, Delft, purple half straw, blue Chinese, blue model, blue bird pattern, blue onion with gold, Vieux Nyon, purple all straw with gold and Japanese. The factory's products were awarded prizes in Antwerp in 1885.
Trade and factory brands
Export to Vienna (until 1794) Export to: Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Holland and the Rhine (around 1803). Export until 1823 to the markets of: Sonneberg, Nuremberg, Hildburghausen, Erfurt, Ansbach, Regensburg, Cologne, Lüneburg, Emmerich, Xanten, Torgau, Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen, Braunschweig, Frankfurt a. M., Wesel, Schwerin, Danzig, Königsberg, Tilsit, Liège, Vienna, Riga, and Petersburg.
In 1906 the factory had sample warehouses and representatives in London, Brussels, Roermond, Paris, Berlin and Hamburg.
Since the porcelain stamps (signatures) with which Rauenstein has identified its products since 1850, were often similar to those of the Meissen Manufactory with their crossed swords, so there was trouble with the competition. Rauenstein had to change the labeling. 1787 to December 27, 1827 an R with or without a dot or star in red overglaze, also in the colors: blue, green and purple. 1827 to 1850 an Rn, from 1850 crossed flags, including a Rn or Rn.
literature
- Louis Koch: The history of the Rauenstein porcelain factory 1783–1908. Franz Bartels bookstore, Sonneberg 1908.
- Renate Gauß, Katharina Witter: The Porcelain Manufactory Rauenstein. Free Word printer, BT Volksdruckerei Sonneberg 1988.
- Prize courant of the Rauenstein porcelain factory, 1880–1890, 1908, 1920.
- Ludwig Danckert: Handbook of European porcelain. Porzellanfabrik Rauenstein, new edition 1992, Prestel-Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-7913-1173-5 , p. 544.
- Dieter Zühlsdorf: Brand Lexicon, Porcelain and Ceramic Report 1885–1935. Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt GmbH, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-925369-00-7 , p. 592.
- Kai-Marian Büttner: Rauenstein porcelain factory: Personal dictionary. Ed .: Series of publications by the Thuringian-Fränkisches Geschichtsverein eV Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2015, ISBN 978-3-7357-4327-5 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2008 - 225 years of porcelain production in Rauenstein. In: Official Journal of the District of Sonneberg. Edition February 2008.
- ↑ Hermann Jedding: European porcelain. Volume 1, Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung GmbH, Munich 1974, p. II 141 f.
- ↑ Ulrich Hess: History of Thuringia 1866 to 1914. Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Successor, Weimar 1991, ISBN 3-7400-0077-5 , p. 317
- ↑ http://www.monumente-online.de/10/05/streiflichter/Rauenstein_Schloss.php
- ^ Address book of the ceramic industry 1906 , publisher: Müller & Schmidt, p. 168
