2 March - 1 September 2024
Porcelain Fever | The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics
The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics in Leeuwarden presents the exhibition 'Porcelain Fever: the white gold of Augustus the Strong and Madame de Pompadour'.
A thrilling story of the birth of European porcelain
Portraying the genesis of European porcelain- a fiercely competitive struggle beset with intrigue, espionage and drama- this exhibition features masterpieces from the world- famous porcelain collections of Dresden and Sèvres, which are travelling to the Netherlands for the first (and perhaps last) time especially for this occasion. Porcelain animals more than a metre high, a profusion of gold, soft pastel colours, exuberant paintings and openworked objects: in the course of the eighteenth century, nothing was too outlandish and Europe succumbed to a highly contagious porcelain fever. Two royal houses unleashed a craze that very quickly propelled European porcelain art to great heights and even today has left its mark. It is the thrilling story of the birth of European porcelain, told by two iconic figures of this turbulent time: Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and founder of the Meissen porcelain factory in Germany; and Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), mistress, cultural adviser and confidante of King Louis XV and patron of the Sèvres porcelain factory in France.
Collaboration
For the exhibition, the Princessehof was able to draw on the abundant ceramic collections of the Porzellansammlung in Dresden, Musée national de Céramique in Sèvres and other important porcelain collections, such as those of the Louvre and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. This exhibition can only be realised thanks to their generous cooperation: more than 150 objects of unparalleled quality from these museums are showcased. This is exceptional because they are all objects that do not travel often. Rarely has the story of the genesis of European porcelain been so comprehensively presented in one exhibition.
Design
The Porcelain Fever exhibition takes visitors through six regally designed rooms, where they will encounter the experiments to unravel the formula of porcelain taking place in Italy and Meissen, to Augustus’ frenzied amassing of Asian porcelain, as well as a life-size zoo. Visitors not only come face to face with Augustus the Strong and Madame de Pompadour, but also other European monarchs and the porcelain that connected them. The exhibition ends in the splendour of the French court, resplendent with flowers, ornate frames, soft colours and painstaking details. The spatial design of the exhibition is by Tatyana van Walsum; the graphic design by Marline Bakker-Glamcult Studio.
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