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An Evaluation on Christmas Plates in European Porcelaining

2023, PROF. DR. BOZKURT ERSOY ARMAĞANI

Chinese and Japanese porcelains were exported to Asia and Europe as both valuable and prestigious products, while European traders transported Chinese porcelain directly to their countries. Portuguese, Dutch, British and Danes imported porcelain through companies such as the East India Company. Although kaolin, the porcelain raw material, was brought to Europe in the 16th century, formulas and recipes related to porcelain production had not yet been discovered. The efforts of a French Jesuit priest's efforts to transfer details of porcelain production to Europe during missionary activities in China led to the emergence of experimental studies on porcelain production in Europe in 1712. Consecutively the first porcelain production in Europe was carried out at the beginning of the 18th century thanks to the research studies of Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and Johann Friedrich Böttger in Meissen, Germany. During the transition from monarchy to democratic administrations in the 20th century, European porcelain factories were rapidly privatized, their products were diversified. Products that were previously identified with royalty were made available to the general public by taking advantage of the technical innovations brought by the industrial revolution such as such as transfer printing. The origin of the tradition of Christmas plate as a ritual object, its emergence, and the European porcelain factories producing Christmas plates were investigated and evaluated in this research. In this context, fourteen established factories, such as such as Meissen, Rosenthal, Royal Worcester, Staffordshire, Royal Copenhagen, were identified producing Christmas plates in 20th century Europe.