Bisque & Glaze Firing

In addition to the carefully balanced composition of the porcelain body, advances in firing technology were crucial to porcelain’s breakthrough in Meissen at the beginning of the 18th century. Porcelain objects spend hundreds of hours in the kilns at varying temperatures. Immediately after drying, they undergo their first firing—the so-called bisque firing.

At temperatures of around 950 degrees Celsius, the structure of the porcelain is strengthened, creating a porous, absorbent body that forms the basis for all subsequent steps. Underglaze decorations are applied to these bisque-fired blanks, and the Crossed Swords trademark is painted on. Bisque firing is therefore the porcelain’s first “trial by fire” and lays the foundation for its mechanical stability, further processing, and later radiant quality.

After the porcelain pieces have been fired once and coated with glaze—tableware pieces in the so-called pink dipping glaze, and figurines often by fine spraying—the glaze firing follows. At temperatures of up to 1,400 degrees Celsius, the glaze fully fuses with the previously porous porcelain.

During the glaze firing, which can take several days depending on the size and complexity of the pieces, the porcelain shrinks by about one sixth of its original volume. Only when the composition of the porcelain body and the firing technology are perfectly coordinated do the characteristic hardness, crystal-clear glaze, and high degree of whiteness that distinguish genuine Meissen porcelain emerge. This final firing transforms the previously porous blanks into durable, radiantly smooth, and dimensionally stable works of art.