The Dresden Porcelain Collection (german: Porzellansammlung) is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen (State Art Collections) of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is located in the Zwinger Palace.

History

The collection was founded in 1715 by the Saxon Prince-Elector

Augustus the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as K ...

, and was originally housed in the Japanese Palace (then known as the "Dutch Palace") on the banks of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

. It moved into the Johanneum in 1876. The collection largely survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

thanks to evacuation, and moved into its current home in the south part of the Zwinger in 1962.

Collection

Today the collection features about 20,000

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

artefacts.Sommerkultur: Pomp und Pracht
Herien Wensink, ''

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

'', 14 May 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2011. One strength is the collection of traditional Chinese and Japanese porcelain acquired by Augustus the Strong. Above all this includes blue-and-white porcelain from the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

and

Qing Dynasties The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

, in particular the "Dragoon Vases" acquired by Augustus from King Frederick William I in exchange for a regiment of dragoons. There are also colourful famille-verte and famille-rose items, white

Dehua () is a county located in central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Quanzhou City and covers an area of with a total population of 300,000. History Dehua is rich in kaolin and famous for ceramic pr ...

ceramics, Japanese

Arita porcelain is a broad term for Japanese porcelain made in the area around the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū island. It is also known as after the wider area of the province. This was the area where the great majori ...

, and ceramics made especially for export. The other strongpoint is the collection of Saxon porcelain, in particular

Meissen porcelain Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger continued von Tschirnhaus's work an ...

. This crockery is decorated partly with Chinese patterns, but also with various European motifs such as scenes from mythology or

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

idylls. There are also numerous

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s made of pure white or painted porcelain, including miniature comedians, musicians and court jesters (''Schmiedel and Fröhlich''), a table set created for King Frederick Augustus III, and a tableau of riders belonging to King

Augustus III Augustus III ( pl, August III Sas, lt, Augustas III; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire where he was known as Frederick Aug ...

Exhibition

Due to lack of space, not all the items are on permanent display. Today’s exhibition comprises around 2,000 artefacts, representing about 10 percent of the entire holdings. A new gallery for the East Asian collection was opened in 2006, increasing the exhibition space by a quarter. It was created in a matter of months by the New York architect Peter Marino with a mixture of classical and modern elements. In the modern section, Japanese blue-and-white porcelain is presented on historic tables, in front of panels

lacquered Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

with anthracite grey and

cinnabar Cinnabar (), or cinnabarite (), from the grc, κιννάβαρι (), is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the bri ...

. Marino carried out further redesigns in 2010.Porzellansammlung im Dresdner Zwinger neu inszeniert
City of Dresden, 1 April 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2011.

References

External links

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (, ''Dresden State Art Collections'') is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It is one of the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the ...

Porzellansammlung
- Information and history from the Dresden and Saxony tourist website
Dresden Porcelain Collection
within Google Arts & Culture * {{authority control Collections of museums in Germany Ceramics museums in Germany Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden German porcelain Art museums established in 1715 Meissen porcelain 1715 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire

History

Collection

Exhibition

References

Further reading

External links