Porcelain painting

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View of Dresden after a painting by Canaletto , around 1830

Porcelain painting is the manual decoration of porcelain objects with pictures and ornaments . Here, porcelain painters use special porcelain paints and various working techniques and tools. Porcelain painting was originally used to decorate everyday porcelain. Ornamental objects were increasingly being made and painted. The style and motifs of the painting and the type of painted objects (dishes, decorative vessels, doll heads, pipe heads, boxes , etc.) changed over the course of the ages. In contrast to oil painting, porcelain painting shows a high resistance of color and brilliance to the influences of aging, light, heat and humidity. Porcelain painting is an intangible cultural heritage in Germany.

history

Ceramic vessels were painted with paints and covered with glazes as early as ancient times . After the invention of porcelain in China, the porcelain parts were also artistically painted. In the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) imported large quantities of the porcelain, which is highly valued in Europe, into Europe . It was possible in this way to place orders with painting requests from the Dutch East India Company (VOC). King Friedrich II also made use of it and bought a lot of porcelain with Chinese decorations and a service with his own coat of arms.

With the invention of European porcelain by Johann Friedrich Böttger in Meißen , the porcelain painting necessary for decoration was created here, which was further developed from enamel painting on glass . Due to the great success of the painted porcelain produced in Meißen in the early 18th century, further porcelain manufacturers emerged all over Europe .

After the French Revolution and the freedom of trade , a large number of private porcelain factories emerged in the second third of the 19th century. The resulting competitive pressure led to the layoff of porcelain painters and the sale of (undecorated) white goods. A branch of industry of freelance porcelain painters emerged who looked for orders on the Walz . The products of that time are called "citizen porcelain".

Porcelain colors

A distinction is made between underglaze and onglaze painting . Only a few colors are suitable for underglaze painting . With onglaze colors , however, all color nuances are available. The production of the porcelain paints is similar to the production of enamel paints. Metal oxides are used as porcelain paints , which are melted into a special glass mass as a carrier material, which becomes sufficiently liquid at the intended firing temperature without flowing too much. The mass is ground into powder and mixed with a binding agent (oils and turpentine) so that the colors can be applied with a brush. The binding agent is burned off without residue during the firing process.

Painting technique

The application of the porcelain colors is done with very fine brushes, with magnifying glass also with one-hair brushes. Coloring templates were used for all representations . In the factories there are large archives with prints , copies of paintings , decorative templates, etc. Porcelain painters also made templates themselves in order to use their motif more often, but there were also employees who were only template painters. Specialists were employed for decor templates . For vedute templates, template painters were even sent on study trips . Optical devices ( tracers ) based on the episcopic principle have been used to transmit images. The projection on the curved surfaces of vases and cups explains the often visibly distorted representation of the paintings. The coloring templates were designed by specialists for complex decors .

To make it easier to transfer the same motif from a template more often, a transfer printing process was used , with which the outlines of the motif were transferred to the porcelain and then the color painting was carried out manually. The templates are reversed so that they appear the right way up after being transferred. This technique was introduced in the 18th century.

In the 20th century , porcelain could also be printed in color. This made the products cheaper, but less valuable. Today you can have your own photographs, including those of old porcelain paintings, transferred to porcelain. To see the difference to hand-painted porcelain, you need expert knowledge and a magnifying glass. The process of transferring photos onto porcelain was then called chromatography. A layer of chromate gelatin in which the porcelain paint z. B. (iridium oxide for black) was already embedded. It can be used to transfer color photos onto porcelain. In the muffle fire, the gelatine burned without residue. This technique is also used to create photo portraits on porcelain plaques for grave pictures. Today, one can porcelain colors by computer and special printers print on the transfer paper and flat ceramic plates directly on the porcelain.

Porcelain painter

The handicraft training to become a porcelain painter can take up to 10 years. There were some porcelain painters who became well known oil painters and even professors at art academies, e.g. For example : Frédéric Frégevize , Johann Hubert Anton Forst , Friedrich Wilhelm Delkeskamp and Carl Daniel Freydanck

Painted objects

A very large variety of different objects was made from porcelain, which could also be painted. In addition to tableware and decorative items such as porcelain plates were , decorative vessels, vases, flower pots ( Jardiniere ), even chandeliers, figurative representations ( sculptures ), trays, writing sets, candlesticks, perfume bottles, Potpourries , cosmetic cases, snuff boxes , bowls , walking stick handles, u. a. m. artistically painted.

Styles of porcelain painting

The porcelain painters used painting templates for their work and therefore the art style corresponds to that of the templates. The choice was based on what could be sold best, i.e. the customer's wishes. In the early days of European porcelain, customers wanted motifs that they already knew, mostly the Chinese decorations of the imported Chinese porcelain, which were then referred to as chinoiseries . After the great success of flower painting from the early days of Meißen porcelain painting, it was copied by all other manufacturers out of business interests and referred to as Meißen flowers . The oil paintings of old masters were also used as templates . B. Canaletto , Lucas Cranach , Antoine Watteau , David Teniers , etc. There were large quantities of prints from all centuries in the manufacturers' master collections, which is why the porcelain paintings also have style features from all centuries. So there was B. Etruscan style service and many others. The factories also employed master painters for flowers and vedute , which were painted from nature. For decors and ornaments, everything that was found from past eras and from the present was used. This is how the artistic styles of classicism , which went back to antiquity, and historicism , which, as is well known, repeated and mixed all artistic styles, emerged. King Friedrich II not only designed the plans for his castles himself, but also influenced the design of the porcelain for his own porcelain factory and gave it names e.g. B. Relief Zierrathen and Neu-Zierrath , which are still produced today. This gave rise to the art-historical style designation Frederician Rococo . Experts can tell whether a porcelain painting was created in the Rococo , Biedermeier , Historicism or after World War II (see web links for videos). Porcelain paintings are very often assigned to the respective art epoch according to the period of manufacture, although the typical characteristics of the art style are not present. Of course there were also paintings on porcelain that corresponded to the current art style of the time of manufacture. In trade, the term soft painting is used for art nouveau flower painting. No bright colors are used, only pale light shades. This term is not used in the specialist literature, but there is an article about it in a specialist journal. Today you can place orders in almost all porcelain factories for shapes and decors from the past centuries, only the quality of the painting from the 20th century and before is no longer achieved. Modern porcelain from the manufactories is rarely painted, but mostly printed. Today you can buy painted porcelain from private porcelain painters who buy the white porcelain and paint it yourself.

Groups of porcelain painting

There is a wide variety of categories in porcelain painting. Only a few are given here as examples. Further areas of porcelain painting can be found in the picture section.

Porcelain plate with a bouquet of flowers, 1871–1943
Onion pattern , Meissen
( blue underglaze )
Plate with vedute painting - Berlin Palace with the Long Bridge , dated 1849–1870, painting template: File: Berliner Schloss-DE113-Freydanck.jpg , by Carl Daniel Freydanck dated 1842
Parts of the table service with a Prussian musical design with mythological figures and Indian flower motifs, Meißen 1761, Victoria and Albert Museum London

Flower painting

Painting flowers on porcelain is the main line of business of every porcelain manufacturer. It was after templates painted, created by master painters, but also by the porcelain painters themselves. Plates with flower painting were first produced for use, today they are considered artistically valuable collectibles. With the beginning of porcelain production in Meißen in the 18th century , porcelain was decorated with flower paintings. Although only a few porcelain colors were available, the porcelain painters managed to achieve a very high quality of the representation. In addition to individual flowers and bouquets, there was a variety of special decors such. B. German flowers , Indian flowers , everlasting flowers , woodcut flowers, Marcolini flowers, Mannerist flowers (Meißner Rose), scattered flowers, naturalistic flowers (botanical painting), meadow flowers, onion patterns, etc.

Botanical painting

The botanical painting (also called Flower portraits) the exact botanical illustration of a single plant, flower, fruit or tree branches, as in botany in herbaria recognition plants are used to. These botanical originals painted on porcelain surpass the representations on paper, because porcelain can be painted much finer than paper.

Decors and ornaments

Flower frieze with passion flowers ( Passiflora ), 1837–1844

Decors and ornaments as decoration already existed in ancient China. Everything that is painted on porcelain serves as a decorative embellishment. The motifs are mostly stylized parts of plants such as tendrils and foliage, but also meanders and curls. Decorating porcelain with ornaments is a specialty of porcelain painting. For the gilding had its own professional group of gilder . By handling the very toxic chemicals, their life expectancy was much shorter. The gold applied was matt after the muffle fire. You could polish it with an agate pen ( polishing gold ) and thus create shiny ornaments in the matt gold (erasing gold). After 1830, bright gold could be produced without polishing, but it was less resistant to abrasion. Almost all pictorial representations are framed with ornaments. In the case of plates , the flags (flag means the raised edge of the plate) and the handle side of cups are extensively decorated with ornaments. The variety of decor names shows the importance for this part of porcelain painting.

Vedute painting

The vedute painting on porcelain, also called prospectus painting, is the realistic, topographically and perspective correct representation of landscapes, places, buildings, streets and squares. In the archives of the porcelain factories there were extensive collections of prints and painting copies for vedute templates . They employed master painters who were only used to produce vedute models. The earliest vedute paintings on porcelain were made on porcelain boxes from Meissen from 1735 . Plates with vedute were not intended for use, but were made as decorative objects. However, the condition of some collectibles shows that they have been scratched with a knife and fork. The extreme delicacy and richness of detail that one was only used to on miniatures, now being able to paint on vases, plates and cups, is an outstanding achievement of porcelain painting. This level of detail cannot be achieved in oil paintings.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) after a painting from 1586 by Lucas Cranach (1515-1686), painted in 1817
Watteau scene on a Weimar vase, around 1830
Dragoons 2nd Guard Dragoons Regiment 4th Esquadron
dated 1817

Portrait painting

Portraits of well-known personalities can often be found on cups, but also on vases and porcelain plates. They were emperors and kings, princes and princesses, statesmen and generals, poets and musicians, scholars and well-known citizens. It was also possible to commission portraits based on your own templates. The result can be found today in the offers of auctions. For portraits , copies of paintings and prints were used as templates. After photography was invented in 1839, photos could also be used and they could also be transferred directly to porcelain using the transfer printing process .

Figurative porcelain (sculptures)

The colored version (painting) of sculptures is a separate field of porcelain painting, for which the Meissen Manufactory is considered a model. Figurative porcelain, people, animals and entire scenes were sold a lot as white goods. In addition to the complete natural painting, there was also partial painting of individual details. The variety of painted figural porcelain ranged from Hummel figures to the centerpieces of kings.

Watteau painting

The erotic oil paintings by the French painter Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) were collected by Frederick the Great and, at his request, painted on porcelain vases, plates, cups and candle holders in his own porcelain factory. This was adopted by many other manufacturers and used as a style name for similar representations in the following centuries.

Mythological scenes

For this purpose, depictions of the ancient Olympic gods and above all of the Parzen (goddesses of fate), the most frequently depicted figures in ancient mythology, were used. The stories of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds of gods offer plenty of material for depictions on porcelain. You can find them on ceramics, mosaics and frescoes of antiquity, on paintings from all art epochs and also on porcelain. The predilection for Egyptian mythology, which arose after Napoleon's conquest of Egypt 1798–1799 , can be found on porcelain. The images are painted like a grisaille , so that they look like cameos and are framed with elaborate ornaments. The goddesses of fate are usually depicted on porcelain with matching sayings.

Animal painting

There is probably no animal that has not been immortalized on porcelain. Painted insects and butterflies are often found on flower plates . In addition to the usual animal scenes and people with animals, there was also an exact anatomical representation, analogous to botanical painting. A rare representation of animals is the service consisting of 303 parts, each part of which is painted with a different hippo. The service was produced in the Copenhagen porcelain factory from 2003 to 2007 as a commissioned work from photographs.

War souvenirs

After the numerous wars in the 18th and 19th centuries, the demand for souvenirs of the successful battles was very high, not only among officers and soldiers, but also among the population. The motifs were soldiers in their magnificent uniforms, war insignia and symbolic representations. In particular, the wars of liberation across Europe against Napoleon were the occasion for numerous porcelain souvenirs.

Coat of arms on porcelain

Coats of arms on porcelain were made to order for noble houses, but also for companies. Service with the national coat of arms were made to order e.g. B. manufactured for King Umberto I (1844–1900) and Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941).

See also

literature

  • Samuel Wittwer : Raffinesse & EleganzVerlag = Hirmer Verlag . Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 . , Porcelain painting
  • Samuel Wittwer and others: KPM design, use, collect . Rasch printing and publishing house, Bramsche 2013. KPM porcelain
  • Erich Köllmann: Berlin porcelain . Klinkhardt & Biermann, Braunschweig 1966. 2 volumes, porcelain from KPM Berlin
  • Erich Köllmann / Magarete Jarchow: Berlin porcelain . Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7814-0264-9 . 2 volumes, porcelain from KPM Berlin
  • Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld: Porcelain from the European factories . Klinkhardt & Biermann, Braunschweig 1974. 2 volumes, European porcelain
  • Johanna Lessmann, u. a .: Berlin porcelain of the 18th century . Offizin Paul Hartung, Hamburg 1993, ISBN   3-923859-17  ( defective ) .
  • Georg Lenz: Berlin porcelain 1763–1786 . Helmut Scherer Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-89433-018-X . 2 volumes, Friedrizanisches Rococo on porcelain
  • Angelika Lorenz: Berlin porcelain 1763–1850 . klr mediapartner, Lengerich 2006, ISBN 3-88789-152-X . Berlin porcelain 1763–1850
  • Dietmar Jürgen Ponert: Applied Arts I Ceramics . Franz Spiller printer, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-925653-00-7 .
  • Hildegard Wievelhove: Biedermeier cups . Druckhaus Beltz, Hermsbach 2005, ISBN 3-89790-221-4 . Biedermeier cups
  • Derek E. Ostergard: Along the Royal Road . New York 1993. , Library of Congress Catalog number = 93-079551
  • Winfried Baer and H. Walter Lack: Plants on porcelain . Botanical Museum Berlin, Berlin 1979, ISBN 3-921800-13-7 . Plants on porcelain
  • Winfried and Ilse Baer: Flowers for the King . H. Heenemann GmbH & Co, Berlin 1992.
  • Winfried Baer - Ilse Baer: ... on the highest orders . Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-922912-06-0 .
  • Winfried Baer, ​​Ilse Baer, ​​Susanne Grosskopf-Knaack: From Gotzkowsky to KPM . Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-922912-15-X .
  • Günter Schade: Berlin porcelain . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1986, ISBN 3-7338-0005-2 .

Web links

Commons : Porcelain Painting  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PDF file, 193 pages, p. 93 porcelain painting
  2. ↑ China made to order
  3. ↑ Claus Boltz: Japanese palace inventory 1770 and tower room inventory 1769 . In: Special print from Keramos . Issue 153. Rasch Printing and Publishing, July 1996, ISSN  0453-7580 . Japanese porcelain of King Friedrich II.
  4. ^ Exhibition catalog: Imperial art possession from the Dutch house in exile Doorn . Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung Beuermann GmbH, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-87584-357-6 , p. 109 .
  5. ↑ huesken.com
  6. ^ Catalog: Carl Daniel Freydanck, A vedute painter of the KPM . Nicolai Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-87584-210-3 , p. 53 ff .
  7. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance. Hirmer, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 309.
  8. ^ Catalog: Carl Daniel Freydanck . Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung , Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-87584-210-3 , p. 27 .
  9. ↑ https://www.kpm-berlin.com/manufaktur/porzellan-handwerskunst/ Chapter: POLIERGOLD, Paragraph 2: Text: The final firing for the onglaze painting is called a muffle fire (at approx. 860 ° Celsius). A separate room in the kiln protects the individual pieces from smoke and flames.
  10. ↑ Printing process with porcelain inks
  11. ^ Franka Dietz: The so-called soft painting on Berlin porcelain around 1900 . In: Keramos . Volume 222, 2013, pp. 41-52 .
  12. ^ Derek E. Ostergard: Along the Royal Road . New York 1993, p. 87 . , Library of Congress Catalog number = 93-079551
  13. ↑ Erich Köllmann: Berlin porcelain . tape II . Klinkhardt & Biermann, Braunschweig 1966, plates 2, 84 and 86 .
  14. ↑ Angelika Lorenz: Berlin Porcelain 1763-1850 . Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-88789-152-X , p. 140-141 .
  15. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 257-277 .
  16. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 77-79 .
  17. ↑ File: Kaiser Wilhelm I, in gala uniform 1102d.jpg
  18. ^ Catalog: Carl Daniel Freydanck . Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung , Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-87584-210-3 , p. 9 (vedute painting on porcelain).
  19. ↑ Erich Köllmann: Berlin porcelain . tape II . Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich 1987. , plates 144 and 145
  20. ↑ Georg Lenz: Berlin Porcelain 1763-1786 . tape II . Helmut Scherer Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-88789-152-X . , Plates 156 and 160
  21. ↑ Helge Siefert: portrait cup story with gold rim . Corona, Karlsruhe 1984.
  22. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 140-156 .
  23. ^ Günter Schade: Berlin porcelain . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1986, ISBN 3-7338-0005-2 , p. 190-197 . The development of figural porcelain up to classicism
  24. ^ Samuel Wittwer: KPM design, use, collect . In: Keramos . Issue 221, 2013, ISSN  0453-7580 , p. 89 .
  25. ^ Samuel Wittwer: KPM design, use, collect . In: Keramos . Issue 221, 2013, ISSN  0453-7580 , p. 96 .
  26. ↑ Johanna Lessmann u. a .: Berlin porcelain of the 18th century . Offizin Paul Hartung, Hamburg 1993, ISBN   3-923859-17  ( defective ) . Color chart 5
  27. ^ Samuel Wittwer: KPM design, use, collect . In: Keramos . Issue 221, 2013, ISSN  0453-7580 , p. 102 .
  28. ↑ Winfried and Ilse Baer: Flowers for the King . H. Heenemann, Berlin 1992, p. 17 .
  29. ^ Georg Lenz: Berlin porcelain 1763–1786 . tape 2 . Helmut Scherer Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-89433-018-X , plate 30 .
  30. ↑ Angelika Lorenz: Berlin Porcelain 1763-1850 . klr mediapartner, Lengerich 2006, ISBN 3-88789-152-X , p. 90 .
  31. ↑ Thomas Blisniewski: Children of the Dark Night, The Iconography of the Parzen from the late Middle Ages to the late eighteenth century. phil. Diss., Cologne 1992.
  32. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 218-228 .
  33. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 158-189 .
  34. ↑ Hildegard Wievelhove: Biedermeier cups . Druckhaus Beltz, Hermsbach 2005, ISBN 3-89790-221-4 , p. 127 ff .
  35. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 437-443 .
  36. ^ Samuel Wittwer : Refinement & Elegance . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7774-3465-0 , p. 380-399 .
  37. ↑ Hildegard Wievelhove: Biedermeier cups . Druckhaus Beltz, Hermsbach 2005, ISBN 3-89790-221-4 , p. 111 ff .