"OLD DRESDEN."

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 432, 20 January 1912, Page 7

"OLD DRESDEN."

fHE STORY OF THE BEAUTIFUL WARE.

The history of the origin of Old Dresden, that beautiful ware, is known to few. At the beginning ol the eighteenth century there still flourished the attractive belief that gold could be made by some more or less mystic alchemy. Among those engaged upon this search was Johann Friederich Bottger. When in Berlin about the year 1701 he boasted of his valuable sorcellerie. As it happened, the King of Persia wanted money, and sent for Bottger. But the chemist was none too sure of his powers, and as princes at that time were quick to revenge themselves for any little mistakes in their servants, Bottger fled to Saxony. His fame ran before him, and Augustus the Strong caused his friend Von Furstenberg to hold the apothecary in. his castle and simply make him make gold. Somehow the precious metal did not materialise, but Bottger found instead that he could make a ivare uncommonly like the far-famed porcelains of China. The King overlooked the mistakes of the alchemist and became pleased with the prospect of producing porcelains. In the new role Bottger did some remarkable things, and although his first work was more of the character of stoneware than the true china it quickly led on to the real thing, and the ceramics of Europe took on a lew importance. Bottger and his workmen were removed to Meissen, where they pursued their labours as State prisoners under the motto "Secret unto death." But the inventor was not to enjoy his glories for very long, for in 1719 he died at the age of thirty-five. For twenty years after J. G. Herold, a painter from Vienna, reigned in his stead, and developed the plain Bottger wares into the kind of '"Old Dresden" about which the experts of our own period are at once dogmatic and misled. It was, however, Herald's modeller, Kandler, who invented what the Germans call the "Krinolinengruppen." These charming statuettes of ladies in rich costumes over wide paniers, with lovers of the most devoted type, pages of the finest black blood and pugs who lock out upon the world and its joys and sorrows with a detached gaze, are perhaps the most sought after and beloved of collectors.

As the century drew to an end the strong position of "Old Dreselen" was attacked from many sides and fought with enemies from within and without. Copies were made in many a neighbouring State to that of Saxony, and the marks, such as the crossed swords, the A. R. of the Augustuses, and the other outward signs of Old Dresden, were reproduced ; even the clay is said to have been borrowed, and the motto, "Secret unto death," was observed as little as most other admirable sentiments which have grown old.

After Bottger, Herold,, and Kandler came a long list of successful artists among whom were Victor Acier, of Pg,ris ; the famous Canon of Hildesheim, A., Q ; E. Busch ; Preussler, Eherlein, Bottengruber, and the many clever people w T ho adapteel the delicate art of Watteau, Lancret, and Pater to the uses of porcelain decoration. After various stages of success Dresden declined at last under the stress of modern demands for cheapness and quantity. At the present time, I believe, a vast trade is carried on, but the old clays are long since used up, the old artistry is dead as Augustus, the old porcelain made by princes with the aid of taxpayers—for princes are things of the past—and thus the prices of original pieces rise and rise until they become ridiculous. These large sums encourage the acute anel dishonest to produce copies and to "fake" old: examples.—"Daily News."