Overglaze Painting
Indian Painting
The oldest Meissen decorations are the so-called “Indian” or “East Indian” motifs inspired by East Asian models. Through the trading posts of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) in China and Japan, porcelain reached Europe, where it inspired astonishment and admiration. These East Asian originals served as a source of inspiration for the painters of the Meissen Manufactory. Floral motifs such as plum, peach, lotus blossoms, and chrysanthemums, as well as the strict ornamentation of latticework and interwoven lines, were given a distinctive interpretation by Meissen’s painters.
Dragon painting is also one of the manufactory’s tradition-rich decorations and draws on East Asian symbolic worlds. With its powerful lines and luminous colors, it remains one of the characteristic motifs of Meissen porcelain art to this day.
Gold Painting
From the very beginning, Meissen painters captured the beauty of flowers on porcelain. Initially rendered as “dry flower painting” after copperplate engravings, they later adorned vessels and services as so-called “manier flowers.” In the 19th century, the “naturalistic” painting style ultimately conquered porcelain. Even today, new interpretations of contemporary Meissen flower painting continue to emerge, as illustrated by the “Giant Bloom” decoration.
Specialized fields such as fruit, animal, landscape, and figure painting require an additional qualification after the regular training. Only a few master painters command these genres.
The crowning achievement of painted decoration is often gold painting. Precious-metal decorations, which also include platinum painting, range from thread-thin outlines and richly ornamented gold rims and ornaments to large-scale gilding.
Underglaze Painting
Applied to the body before the second firing, underglaze colors fuse with the porcelain at temperatures of up to 1,400 °C. Only a few colorants—such as the metal oxide cobalt—can withstand the heat.
Discover nowColor Laboratory
For centuries, MEISSEN’s in-house color laboratory has developed, refined, and tested its unique colors and gold preparations. The color archive contains around 10,000 carefully preserved color formulas.
Discover nowTrademark
Since 1722, the Crossed Swords from the Saxon electoral coat of arms have marked the authenticity and quality of Meissen porcelain. As Europe’s first trademark, they continue to be applied by hand to this day.
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