Zweibrücker porcelain

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Zweibrücken porcelain was produced in the porcelain factory of Duke Christian IV of Pfalz-Zweibrücken .

history

The Zweibrücken Duke Christian IV brought the Kirner physician Josef Michael Stahl to his court as ducal physicist around 1750 . Stahl had promised the duke that he would be able to increase his gold reserves considerably through an enrichment process. Although in the following years the entire gold reserves of the duchy disappeared without result in the case of steel, in 1754 Stahl was able to persuade the duke to provide considerable funds for the establishment of a porcelain factory . According to Stahl, it should be possible to manufacture porcelain economically, as all the necessary materials are available in the duchy. Stahl acquired the knowledge necessary to set up the company from a master at the Höchst Porcelain Manufactory .

Gutenbrunnen Castle was chosen as the location , where Stahl experimented in vain with Nohfeld earth for half a year . Ultimately, Passau kaolin had to be imported. When the first successful pieces could finally be presented to the duke, Stahl was appointed councilor. After just one year, the systems were destroyed in a storm and the factory was relocated to Zweibrücken , where stable production initially took place. However, sales were hampered by the low domestic market and high tariffs in neighboring countries that wanted to protect their own factories. The situation of the company worsened, especially from 1771, after Stahl and the Duke concentrated on the idea of ​​extracting gold from pyrites. The tableware and figurine production was discontinued in favor of laboratory pans. After Christian's death, his successor, Karl II. August 1775, leased the business to a private entrepreneur who moved it to the Kirschbacherhof near Dietrichingen in 1784 , where it ceased two years later.

Products

Since Stahl got its porcelain-making knowledge from a Supreme Master, the products were very similar. In the Gutenbrunn era, the porcelain brand consisted of a double bridge, in the princely period it consisted of the intertwined initials of Pfalz-Zweibrücken: PZ.

literature

  • Emil Heuser: The Pfalz-Zweibrücker Porcelain Manufactory. (1907, Witters Verlag in Neustadt)
  • Elisabeth Kessler-Slotta: Zweibrücker Porcelain 1767–1775. (1990, SDV-Verlag, Saarbrücken)
  • Elisabeth Kessler-Slotta: In great demand - Zweibrücker porcelain 1767–1775. (2002, City Museum Zweibrücken, Zweibrücken)