Berlin Ware

Berlin ware, faience and porcelain pottery made in Berlin after 1678, when the first faience manufactory there was founded by Pieter van der Lee. Others were opened in 1699 by Cornelius Funcke and in 1756 by Karl Friedrich Lüdicke. All closed, however, by the end of the 18th century. The first porcelain factory was founded in 1751 by Wilhelm Kaspar Wegely, with the aid of an arcanist, Johann Benckengraff, from Höchst, and the patronage of King Frederick II the Great. Wegely gave up in 1757 after King Frederick occupied Saxony, became involved with the Meissen factory there, and withdrew his patronage from Wegely. This early Berlin porcelain, which is rare, is of good quality; but its enamel colours could only be made to adhere to it with difficulty, and they have often partially flaked off.

Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky acquired the porcelain formula in 1761 and started a factory that he sold to the king in 1763, when it became the Royal factory, which, in 1918, became the State factory. It is impossible to identify 18th-century Berlin porcelain with complete certainty. The best period was from 1781 to 1786, however. Mosäik borders, elaborate diapered patterns of fish scales, appeared in 1763 and took a variety of forms. Vases remained popular, usually with intricately modeled applied flowers, and Berlin ware achieved a reputation for the quality of its painting that it has never lost.

In the early years of the 19th century, Berlin became noted for large vases in the Biedermeier style. It also specialized in finely painted porcelain plaques. The production of lithophanes started in 1830, and a “Majolika” ware was introduced and shown at the Paris Exposition of 1867. The factory was destroyed during World War II, but it was rebuilt and reopened soon thereafter.