Meissen Questions

Recently I have received several questions relating to Meissen patterns and marks. I am always happy to reply to emails, however, the last one I received with a photograph of a teapot proved to be one I could not answer due to the person’s email address. There are a number of companies that made a version of the Blue Onion pattern. There is a Strawflower pattern that is often mistaken for Blue Onion yet may be considered an onion pattern. However, the original pattern now known as Blue Onion or Onion Pattern did not start out to be called by this name. According to Robert E. Rontgen in his book “The Book of Meissen, Second Edition” the fruits or bulbs around the border were not meant to be onions. This pattern like many others originated in the Orient and was much in demand in Europe at the turn of the 18th century. According to Mr. Rontgen scholars agree that the fruits copied from the Chinese porcelain pattern resembled peaches and pomegranates alternating. As time progressed the pomegranates and peaches were simplified and became more in appearance as an onion. About 1740 the Royal Manufactory in Meissen developed another blue underglaze pattern known as Strawflower Pattern. The Royal Danish Porcelain Factory in Copenhagen, Denmark made this pattern internationally famous. The Strawflower Pattern was copied by over fifty factories in Europe and since 1920 it was mass produced in Germany. Source: “The Book of Meissen, Second Edition.”

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