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Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe
Porcelain was invented in medieval China--but its secret recipe was first reproduced in Europe by an alchemist in the employ of the Saxon king Augustus the Strong. Saxony's revered Meissen factory could not keep porcelain's ingredients secret for long, however, and scores of Holy Roman princes quickly founded their own mercantile manufactories, soon to be rivaled by private entrepreneurs, eager to make not art but profits. As porcelain's uses multiplied and its price plummeted, it lost much of its identity as aristocratic ornament, instead taking on a vast number of banal, yet even more culturally significant, roles. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it became essential to bourgeois dining, and also acquired new functions in insulator tubes, shell casings, and teeth.
Weaving together the experiences of entrepreneurs and artisans, state bureaucrats and female consumers, chemists and peddlers, Porcelain traces the remarkable story of "white gold" from its origins as a princely luxury item to its fate in Germany's cataclysmic twentieth century. For three hundred years, porcelain firms have come and gone, but the industry itself, at least until very recently, has endured. After Augustus, porcelain became a quintessentially German commodity, integral to provincial pride, artisanal industrial production, and a familial sense of home.
Telling the story of porcelain's transformation from coveted luxury to household necessity and flea market staple, Porcelain offers a fascinating alternative history of art, business, taste, and consumption in Central Europe.
Weaving together the experiences of entrepreneurs and artisans, state bureaucrats and female consumers, chemists and peddlers, Porcelain traces the remarkable story of "white gold" from its origins as a princely luxury item to its fate in Germany's cataclysmic twentieth century. For three hundred years, porcelain firms have come and gone, but the industry itself, at least until very recently, has endured. After Augustus, porcelain became a quintessentially German commodity, integral to provincial pride, artisanal industrial production, and a familial sense of home.
Telling the story of porcelain's transformation from coveted luxury to household necessity and flea market staple, Porcelain offers a fascinating alternative history of art, business, taste, and consumption in Central Europe.
- GenresHistoryArtNonfiction
544 pages, Hardcover
First published June 30, 2020
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195 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 11, 2020
I really enjoyed this book, although I did not expect to. It is an industry history of porcelain, with an emphasis on the business in Central Europe (largely Germany) and a product focus primarily on traditional porcelain items, such as dinnerware, tea and coffee services, and artistic figures. The time frame is from about 1700 to the present (2019). The author is a European intellectual historian who teaches at LSU.
What do I mean by “industry history”? It is the biography of an industry, by which you can think of the combination of people and businesses who together account for the continuing production and distribution of some set of goods in a given area over a given time period. I agree that this sounds a bit generic, but deciding on what an industry is inherently involves issues of what you want to learn by looking at an industry. This involves a whole set of questions which if not answered thoughtfully will lead to a study that is either too broad to be interesting or useful (global finance from the time of the East India Company) or so narrow as to be boring and irrelevant for all but a handful of experts (power driven hand tools in Spain from 2000-2008). Picking the right focus is critical to the success of a story but if it is done well, the result can be very compelling, as it is here. I do not get the sense that Professor Marchand started this project out with the intention of producing an industry study, but that is became one indicates her good judgment and adaptability.
Now what about porcelain? As I look around my kitchen, I see a porcelain sugar bowl and regularly use porcelain coffee and tea cups and saucers. We have our own set of fine china, which we bring out for guests and we are all too aware of the prominence of porcelain products on wedding registries. As older generations pass on, I know many people who have received their parents’ porcelain heirlooms, whether wanted or not. Going on eBay as a result only further illuminates how widespread fine china products are even in 2020 America. Marchand’s book is highly informative on all of this.
From experiences like this, it is a short trip to asking how porcelain came to be important to earlier generations, how it has been manufactured, how it has been distributed, how porcelain firms competed with each other or jostled with each other for government support. One also gets curious about the content of porcelain products, both physical and cultural. Where did the designs come from? Why do porcelain tea sets look the way they do? What was the role of the Chinese in the development of the industry - why is it called China?? In most industries, there is a mixture of general and particular, of technical and cultural, of economic and political. While the span of the industry has been international, the key details are often highly local as well.
Marchand tells a good story of how porcelain initially got established during the waning of the Middle Ages and mercantilism and the twilight of the culture of Kings and Princes in what was the Holy Roman Empire and what became modern Germany. Then stuff happens, for example Napoleon and his wars. Once normality is established, the industry tries to reestablish itself but ends up “fighting the last war” in the battle of whose tastes to cater to, which products to make, how to distribute them, and how much to charge. Lets just say there was always a tension in the “business model”.
As time moves on, more stuff happens and the firms in the industry need to adjust. Germany unites. The middle class emerges. The industrial revolution happens - production scale increases and product variety decreases. All of this prompts further adjustments. Then you get to the 20th century, with WW1, the interwar period and Great Depression, WW2 and the Nazis, the Cold War, and beyond. It is hard to imagine any industry that was not thoroughly made over by this extended chain of events. How the relatively tiny porcelain industry survived (in a manner of speaking) is quite a story and presents a really good example of how the micro story of the industry and the macro story of world economic and political events can jointly illuminate each other. The commonalities that Marchand identifies in the various industry adjustments over three centuries are an accomplishment and a real strength of the book.
The book is on the long side and the style is not conducive to skimming but the story is easily followed and there are lots of pictures and charts. It is not a technically demanding study in terms of statistical models or detailed trend lines.
Marchand’s book is not a quick summer read but has a lot to offer an interested reader.
What do I mean by “industry history”? It is the biography of an industry, by which you can think of the combination of people and businesses who together account for the continuing production and distribution of some set of goods in a given area over a given time period. I agree that this sounds a bit generic, but deciding on what an industry is inherently involves issues of what you want to learn by looking at an industry. This involves a whole set of questions which if not answered thoughtfully will lead to a study that is either too broad to be interesting or useful (global finance from the time of the East India Company) or so narrow as to be boring and irrelevant for all but a handful of experts (power driven hand tools in Spain from 2000-2008). Picking the right focus is critical to the success of a story but if it is done well, the result can be very compelling, as it is here. I do not get the sense that Professor Marchand started this project out with the intention of producing an industry study, but that is became one indicates her good judgment and adaptability.
Now what about porcelain? As I look around my kitchen, I see a porcelain sugar bowl and regularly use porcelain coffee and tea cups and saucers. We have our own set of fine china, which we bring out for guests and we are all too aware of the prominence of porcelain products on wedding registries. As older generations pass on, I know many people who have received their parents’ porcelain heirlooms, whether wanted or not. Going on eBay as a result only further illuminates how widespread fine china products are even in 2020 America. Marchand’s book is highly informative on all of this.
From experiences like this, it is a short trip to asking how porcelain came to be important to earlier generations, how it has been manufactured, how it has been distributed, how porcelain firms competed with each other or jostled with each other for government support. One also gets curious about the content of porcelain products, both physical and cultural. Where did the designs come from? Why do porcelain tea sets look the way they do? What was the role of the Chinese in the development of the industry - why is it called China?? In most industries, there is a mixture of general and particular, of technical and cultural, of economic and political. While the span of the industry has been international, the key details are often highly local as well.
Marchand tells a good story of how porcelain initially got established during the waning of the Middle Ages and mercantilism and the twilight of the culture of Kings and Princes in what was the Holy Roman Empire and what became modern Germany. Then stuff happens, for example Napoleon and his wars. Once normality is established, the industry tries to reestablish itself but ends up “fighting the last war” in the battle of whose tastes to cater to, which products to make, how to distribute them, and how much to charge. Lets just say there was always a tension in the “business model”.
As time moves on, more stuff happens and the firms in the industry need to adjust. Germany unites. The middle class emerges. The industrial revolution happens - production scale increases and product variety decreases. All of this prompts further adjustments. Then you get to the 20th century, with WW1, the interwar period and Great Depression, WW2 and the Nazis, the Cold War, and beyond. It is hard to imagine any industry that was not thoroughly made over by this extended chain of events. How the relatively tiny porcelain industry survived (in a manner of speaking) is quite a story and presents a really good example of how the micro story of the industry and the macro story of world economic and political events can jointly illuminate each other. The commonalities that Marchand identifies in the various industry adjustments over three centuries are an accomplishment and a real strength of the book.
The book is on the long side and the style is not conducive to skimming but the story is easily followed and there are lots of pictures and charts. It is not a technically demanding study in terms of statistical models or detailed trend lines.
Marchand’s book is not a quick summer read but has a lot to offer an interested reader.
September 5, 2025
Dense but readable book on the history of porcelain; largely centred on Germany.
Goes into how the industry was affected by external factors - it was started by a chemist creating the recipe for porcelain. There was industrial espionage; various porcelain manufacturers sprung up. Historically, Europe rules (princes in Germany) granted "privileges" to do business.
So porcelain was a really state-subsidised attempt - they needed the state to approve the business. Getting the clay (kaolin) and wood (for heating the clay) needed the state's approval to sell.
Book goes into porcelain's various golden ages. It was a way of exerting artistic influence for some princes. Meissen (for example) ends the book being tied to the identity of the state; while also needed immense money to justify its functioning. It's also tied to the change in industry / economy - from mercantilism, to industrialism, to capitalism. It's a good way to see/understand economic history.
In between, there are various journeys - needing to be profitable (seems to have been rarely achieved - states needed to plough money in, but could also withdraw the profits if there were any). The book emphasises the importance of porcelain in homeware and art. I've never given a thought to porcelain figurines, but it was interesting to see it started as a luxury good, then became part of the middle class culture during a period of history.
One part that struck me was the ratio of bureaucrats to actual people doing the porcelain manufacture - over the years, this dropped. In Chapter 8, there's a table: in 1765, there were 15 artisans for every official; in 1913 it became 6:1, and in 1930, it was between <2-2.5:1. The book observes that "the age of managerial capitalism had come to the porcelain industry".
Book also had interesting bits about the history of labour unionism and the ratio of men to women - women were cheaper; so it was a cost saving measure to hire women.
An often repeated point is the tension between prestige / art and profit. Art often resulted in wasting of supplies and was non-profitable. But the state often wanted their factories to achieve both. We end with Meissen still needing massive state subsidies to survive in 2019. (I googled and they are still around.)
Very interesting book about history and porcelain.
Goes into how the industry was affected by external factors - it was started by a chemist creating the recipe for porcelain. There was industrial espionage; various porcelain manufacturers sprung up. Historically, Europe rules (princes in Germany) granted "privileges" to do business.
So porcelain was a really state-subsidised attempt - they needed the state to approve the business. Getting the clay (kaolin) and wood (for heating the clay) needed the state's approval to sell.
Book goes into porcelain's various golden ages. It was a way of exerting artistic influence for some princes. Meissen (for example) ends the book being tied to the identity of the state; while also needed immense money to justify its functioning. It's also tied to the change in industry / economy - from mercantilism, to industrialism, to capitalism. It's a good way to see/understand economic history.
In between, there are various journeys - needing to be profitable (seems to have been rarely achieved - states needed to plough money in, but could also withdraw the profits if there were any). The book emphasises the importance of porcelain in homeware and art. I've never given a thought to porcelain figurines, but it was interesting to see it started as a luxury good, then became part of the middle class culture during a period of history.
One part that struck me was the ratio of bureaucrats to actual people doing the porcelain manufacture - over the years, this dropped. In Chapter 8, there's a table: in 1765, there were 15 artisans for every official; in 1913 it became 6:1, and in 1930, it was between <2-2.5:1. The book observes that "the age of managerial capitalism had come to the porcelain industry".
Book also had interesting bits about the history of labour unionism and the ratio of men to women - women were cheaper; so it was a cost saving measure to hire women.
An often repeated point is the tension between prestige / art and profit. Art often resulted in wasting of supplies and was non-profitable. But the state often wanted their factories to achieve both. We end with Meissen still needing massive state subsidies to survive in 2019. (I googled and they are still around.)
Very interesting book about history and porcelain.
May 15, 2022
"Porcelain" is overwhelmingly dense with information, but often absolutely fascinating, in spite of the weight of information the author is piling on the reader, which she does in a very friendly fashion.. She reveals porcelain, not as an art form per se, but as a commercial activity from its appearance in Meissen and Sevres to its function under the Nazis and Communists to its somewhat precarious existence in the present. (It's a well known fact that nobody's children wants their parents' china these days. :) The history of porcelain casts a light on many critical developments in European history.
I particularly enjoyed the early part of this history, when scientists were feverishly trying to replicate the fine porcelain of Asia. (There are one or two very interesting passages on cultural appropriation.) Their eventual success, and the establishment of state potteries, functioned to support the idea of mercantilism. The changing role of the ceramic manufactories as capitalism developed, how they functioned in states of war, what the workers did, what they were paid, and how they were treated is really well laid out.
I have to admit that when the book travelled on past the mid-1800s, I began to sink under the accumulated facts. Nonetheless, although this book is not for the faint of heart, or perhaps those without some acquaintance with the history of Central Europe, the history of porcelain in Europe opens up a number of connections which I found absorbing.
I particularly enjoyed the early part of this history, when scientists were feverishly trying to replicate the fine porcelain of Asia. (There are one or two very interesting passages on cultural appropriation.) Their eventual success, and the establishment of state potteries, functioned to support the idea of mercantilism. The changing role of the ceramic manufactories as capitalism developed, how they functioned in states of war, what the workers did, what they were paid, and how they were treated is really well laid out.
I have to admit that when the book travelled on past the mid-1800s, I began to sink under the accumulated facts. Nonetheless, although this book is not for the faint of heart, or perhaps those without some acquaintance with the history of Central Europe, the history of porcelain in Europe opens up a number of connections which I found absorbing.
November 28, 2021
A well-written and researched book: it brings a tumultuous history of craftsmanship, industrialization, perseverance and entrepreneurship alive. It's not a practical guide for recognizing quality porcelain but will give you the necessary background from where you can start to deepen your knowledge into the "white gold."
November 22, 2022
Not a lot of competition in this subject! Notable for the insight it gives into areas like the technological lifecycle of an industry, economy of industry in Germany and the companies that became Germany, the politics of business for this industry, the evolution of luxury consumption in 17th-20th century Germany.
November 21, 2024
Easily one of the best books on European porcelain out there. So well-written and easily approachable for those new to the field.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews