Meissen is the porcelain factory near Dresden in Saxony that was the first in Europe to produce true hard-paste porcelain, the material previously known only from Chinese and Japanese imports. It was founded in 1710 under Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, following the experiments of Johann Friedrich Böttger and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus.
Under the painter Johann Gregorius Höroldt, Meissen developed a brilliant palette of enamel colours and celebrated chinoiserie scenes, while the modeller Johann Joachim Kändler created the lively figures, animals and table centrepieces that set the standard for European porcelain sculpture. The factory's crossed swords mark, adapted from the Saxon arms, was introduced in the 1720s and has been widely copied, so collectors study the form of the swords, the paste, glaze and painting style to date pieces and spot imitations. Early wares of the eighteenth century command the highest prices, but nineteenth-century figures and decorative pieces in the Rococo revival taste are also widely collected. The term Dresden is often used loosely for porcelain decorated in the Meissen manner by other studios in and around the city, which should not be confused with factory work.
