Overview

A sweeping cultural and economic history of porcelain, from the eighteenth century to the present  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 rivalled 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.

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Reviews

[A] wide-ranging and thorough study. . . . this is a riveting story, well told . . . by Marchand, who illuminates so much in an original and entertaining way. ---Tim Blanning, Literary Review

Marchand, a specialist in German history, writes with clarity. ---Norma Clarke, Times Literary Supplement As Suzanne Marchand shows in her meticulous new book, porcelain has been integral to German life since its reinvention in Saxony in 1708. * The Economist * [A] sweeping economic, social and cultural history of central Europe. . . . unorthodox and engaging. ---Marc Levinson, Wall Street Journal To weave together cultural, economic, and social history so masterfully takes great historiographical experience and skill. All those who are interested in nineteenth-century German intellectual history admire Suzanne Marchand's books on the reception of classical antiquity and orientalism. Now she has surprised us with something completely new ---Jurgen Osterhammel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Finalist for the PROSE Award in European History, Association of American Publishers Marchand paints a colourful picture of the day-to-day life of porcelain factories. ---Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth, Apollo A wide-ranging and thorough study. . . . this is a riveting story, well told . . . by Marchand, who illuminates so much in an original and entertaining way. ---Tim Blanning, Literary Review

Author Information

Suzanne L. Marchand is the Boyd Professor of History at Louisiana State University. Her books include German Orientalism in the Age of Empire and Down from Olympus (Princeton).

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