Reference prints for painting and sculpture at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in the 18th Century

Reference prints for painting and sculpture at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in the 18th Century

Project organisers:
Porzellansammlung

Résumé:
In this project the prints used as patterns for Meissen porcelain in the 18th century will be investigated in detail for the first time, very little being known about them up to now. This will involve, first and foremost, inspecting the preserved items in the archives of the Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory and in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and then matching them with surviving porcelain décor and porcelain figures. The resources available in other cabinets of prints and drawings and other libraries will be inspected at a later stage. The project will investigate the way in which the Meissen painters and modellers used these reference prints and how they adapted them in their own work. A further aim is to establish when the prints entered the Manufactory, which subjects were chosen and who was responsible for their selection. In this connection it is also necessary to take account of the role of Count Heinrich von Brühl and his secretary and librarian Carl Heinrich von Heinecken, who was appointed Director of the Royal Kupferstichkabinett in 1746.

Intended results and aims:
Publication

Duration:
Two years, from 1 March 2011 until 28 February 2013

Financing:
Freundeskreis der Dresdner Porzellansammlung im Zwinger e.V.
(initially for one year)

Project manager:
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pietsch

Project team members:
Dr. des. Claudia Bodinek, temporary employee at the Porzellansammlung

Cooperative partners:
Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Archive, Dr. Peter Braun

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstichkabinett, Dr. Pfeifer-Helke

Interim results, publications:
Colloquium of the Friends of the Porzellansammlung
in the Albertinum on 16 April 2011

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pietsch
Director of the Porzellansammlung

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Sophienstraße
01067 Dresden