What Products Does Meissen Notably Make?

Meissen is a centuries-old company named after the very town it was founded in; in early 1700s Germany. The beauty, quality, and illustrious white shade of Meissen porcelain took the world by storm and countless imitators and porcelain-makers have begun to use Meissen as a standard for how to make quality porcelain moving forward. Since their inception, Meissen still makes porcelain as they have before and no other company has since been able to top them.

You may be curious as to what kinds of porcelain Meissen makes, and it’s not out of the question that they delved into quite a bit in terms of what they sculpted and sold. Here are the kinds of collectables that Meissen has crafted to perfection.

Tableware is the most common of porcelain products that Meissen has made for hundreds of years. Tableware sets involve a series of cups, plates, bowls, and more to have been used for special occasions among European nobles.

While Meissen ceramists we’re great with shaping tableware to perfection, they were not creative with making decorations, so early versions of their tableware were modeled after pieces from China and other Asian nations. To help with decorating their pieces, they hired Johann Gregorius Höroldt of Vienna to paint delicately on each of their pieces.

Just like early Meissen porcelain, the best Meissen porcelain made today is still being painted by hand, with Höroldt’s coloring techniques still being utilized.

Figurines were porcelain products from Meissen that were also very popular among European nobles. These figurines consist of people and animals made to entertain, flatter, or inspire. One of Höroldt’s apprentices was named Johann Joachim Kändler, whose talents and services were later primarily involved in the decorations of each piece. Unlike similar figurines at the time, these figures were great at expressing emotion, elegance, and humor.

Meissen's figurines have always been known as very high-quality. From etched ruffles and detailed hair to perfectly painted patterns and facial features, Meissen succeeded in making their painting skills up to par with their masterful sculpting.

Kändler’s specialties were comedic and humorous figurines as well as sculpting realistic animals, and he had his very own lines of playful figurines such as his trademark “monkey orchestra”. He is known as arguably Meissen’s best ceramist ever to this day.

Of course, being Meissen’s largest ceramic products, their vases are the most valuable and require the most work involving painting compared to figures and tableware. Thanks to their craftsmanship, each of their vases are treated like works of art, with ornate designs and rich, high-quality enamel colorings from lip to base.

Meissen began to create vases as well as chandeliers and candlesticks in the 18th and 19th centuries, and since Meissen’s inception, they have come quite a long way from their early Chinese designs, adopting a late-Baroque style at the time that historians can instantly identify.

Meissen today makes modern and sleek, all-white porcelain products including vases and tableware that are affordable to more types of consumers. People, though, argue that these newer products don’t compare to their works of the past.

Early Meissen porcelain can be bought from private antique merchants where you can also buy the best silver judaica, and some have even been acquired just for display at various museums from around the world, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Meissen have been known as pioneers in porcelain and ceramics, raising a high bar in quality collectables and paving the way for painters to get opportunities in modeling. Consider making a perfectly-preserved Meissen piece yours before the opportunity goes away.

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