Imperial Porcelain Factory
Encyclopedia
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Императорский Фарфоровый Завод, Imperatorskii Farforovyi Zavod), is a producer of fine, handpainted ceramic products in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. It was established by Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov
Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov
Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov was a Russian chemist, the inventor of Russian hard-paste porcelain and the founder of the Imperial Porcelain Factory....
in the town of Oranienbaum
Lomonosov, Russia
Lomonosov is a municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, west of St. Petersburg proper. Population:...
(Lomonosov) in 1744. Many still refer to the factory by its well-known former name, Lomonosov Porcelain Factory.
Imperial Years
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
family and the Russian Imperial Court.
The attempts to reveal the secret of porcelain making had been taken in Russia since 1718 visit of Peter the Great to Saxony, where he saw the Saxon invention at the Dresden Court. A talented mining engineer Dmitry Vinogradov who studied metal industry at Freiberg had invented the formula of the Russian porcelain. In 1744 Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, established the first porcelain manufactory in Russia.
1744-1762 The Vinogradov Period
The Russian porcelain by Vinogradov had quality similar to the Saxon porcelain while its formula which consisted of only Russian ingredients reminded of the Chinese porcelain. At the beginning of the Vinogradov period the motifs were monochrome and simplified while at the end of this period the fine miniatures were completed on porcelain. The gold paint for porcelain was prepared from golden coins from the Imperial Treasury.
1762-1801. Catherine’s Porcelain. Porcelain of Paul I Reign. Early Classicism
‘The Golden Age of Catherine’ – the reign of Catherine II the Great – was the age of prosperity for the fine Russian porcelain. In 1765 the manufactory was renamed to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory.
From the very beginning of Catherine the Great’s reign IPM was obliged to produce fine porcelain and to bring profit. The Imperial Court’s need for porcelain was large and the permanent orders from the Court had let IPM keep to the highest quality of the expensive porcelain.
Paul I reign continued from 1796 to 1801. The art of the Russian porcelain continued to develop in style of classicism with the increasing inluence of the Hellenic and the Roman motifs.
IPM Porcelain in the 19th Century. 1801-1825. Porcelain of Alexander’s Reign. Restructuring of IPM. High Classicism, Empire Style
The masters from Berlin Koeniglische Porzellan Manufaktur and artists of porcelain making from Sevres were invited, the kiln chamber was restructured.
In 1806 a prohibitory law was adopted putting a ban to import of porcelain to Russia and after this adoption the competition between a variety of the Russian private porcelain factories had risen. The production line of IPM porcelain was divided into an expensive low-profit Royal presents department and an ordinary porcelain department which produced lower-priced porcelain for consumers for the Russian nobility.
1825-1894. Historical period. Reigns of Nicholas I (r.1825-1855), Alexander II (r.1855-1881), Alexander III (r.1881-1894)
Since the reign of Nicholas I (r.1825 to 1855) the imported kaolin from Limoges had been used. Porcelain plaques and large porcelain items of high perfection were made. A special method of gilding of porcelain with a durable gilt which stayed on and looked perfectly with soft polishing and brilliance had been invented, although subsequently lost.
Nicholas I took part in the managing of IPM. The projects of porcelain items were handed in to him for his confirmation. The manufactory’s own museum was established in 1844. Later on a library was formed from rare books on art, paintings and engravings.
By the beginning of reign of Alexander II (r.1855-1881) IPM had worked only on imported raw materials. A year before the abolition of serfdom the IPM workers had been gived freedom but many of them continued to work at IPM.
The number of the Imperial Court’s orders decreased. The porcelain was produced mainly on old samples. From the beginning of the 1870ties copying of the famous paintings on porcelain had been ceased, the landscapes had been painted rarely. The ornamental decoration prevailed. IPM started to use coloured glazes and to decorate their porcelain with pate-sur-pate patterns.
The idea of closing down the ‘useless and unprofitable’ enterprise emerged in 1881. Later on the idea transformed into the assignation of IPM to the Imperial Academy of Arts but Alexander III whose reign had just started by then commanded to create the best possible conditions from technological and arts point of view to IPM so that IPM could bear its name ‘Imperial” with dignity and be a standard for all private porcelain manufactory owners.
In 1889 the new glaze sang-de-boeuf formula was invented. Since 1892 the underglaze decoration technology had been mastered with the help of the Danish experts. The Russian Emperor was married to a Danish princess and paid interest to the underglaze painting.
1894-1917. The Russian Art Nouveau. Nicholas II Reign
By the beginning of the new 20th century the IPM had become one of the leading porcelain factories in Europe. The IPM porcelain was famous for its unexceptionable quality, it was produced from paste made of the highest quality ingredients on up-to-date equipment. This paste had been kept in cellars for 10 years before having been used in production.
The Art Nouveau style had influence on the shapes of the porcelain. The porcelain with whimsically curved forms decorated by stylized plants, mermaids and other attributes of the Art Nouveau was produced. As a rule, the vases were covered by underglaze decor. Every vase had a unique form. The underglaze decoration made it possible for the artists to paint changeable seasons and winter landscapes.
The IPM have started to produce technical and chemical porcelain due to cease of import of porcelain from Germany after the World War I had been unleashed. The production of fine porcelain decreased to a minimum level. All the fine porcelain items produced were sold at charity auctions in favour of the Royal hospitals. Only Easter eggs were produced in large quantities for Easter celebrations of soldiers. After the October Revolution of 1917 IPM had been nationalized and renamed to State Porcelain Factory (GFZ).
After the Revolution
With the abolition of the Russian monarchy in 1917, the Imperial Porcelain Factory was renamed "State Porcelain Factory" (GFZ - Gossudarstvennyi Farforovyi Zavod) by the BolshevikBolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
regime. During the early years of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, the GFZ produced so-called propaganda wares, ranging from plates to figurines of the Soviet elite.
In 1925, on the occasion of the 200th jubilee of the Russian Academy of Science, it was given the name of the academy's founder, Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries was the atmosphere of Venus. His spheres of science were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art,...
. It became known as the Leningrad Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (LFZ - Leningradski Farforovyi Zavod imeni M.V. Lomonosova). The newly-christened Lomonosov factory produced a range of wares, including collectible animal figurines and dinner sets.
Its best-known pattern, cobalt net, first appeared in 1949. The design is based on a pink net pattern that was painted on raised lines cast into the porcelain dinnerware pieces of Catherine the Great
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
. The factory has actual examples of Catherine's dinnerware with this design. The new design pattern is a combination of intersecting lines of cobalt blue with inverted tear drops of cobalt blue (made from mineral cobalt) and 22 karat gold accents.
After the Soviet Era
LFZ became privatized in 1993 as the "Lomonosov Porcelain Factory". At that time, wide exports began to countries unfamiliar with Lomonosov wares, particularly the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. In 1999, KKR, an American investing firm, bought a controlling interest in LFZ. This prompted a long legal battle in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, made headlines in international business journals, and ultimately resulted in a legal victory for the American investors. However, when it became apparent that the American investors were primarily interested in looting the factory's priceless museum, the Russian Government forced the investors to relinquish control of the museum to the Hermitage. Having no real interest in running a porcelain factory, in 2002, the American investors sold LFZ to Nikolai Tsvetkov
Nikolai Tsvetkov
Nikolai Tsvetkov is a Russian oligarch, the founder and president of Nikoil Financial. , with a wealth of $1.8 billion, he is the world's 397th-richest person....
, President of Nikoil, who acquired the famed factory as a present for his wife on the occasion of the International Women's Day of March 8.
Return to Old Name
On 29 May 2005, the stockholders of Lomonosov Porcelain Factory passed a resolution to return to their pre-Soviet name, the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory.The IPM has recently started to produce hand-made copies of porcelain from the range of Imperial porcelain exhibited in the State Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
collection. This range includes dinner sets, collectable plates, vases, figurines from the famous series of the Russian Peoples and other porcelain items from the assortment of porcelain made here since the foundation of the manufactory in 1744.
Post-Soviet Backstamps
For more information on IFZ backstamps, visit:
Backstamps of Russian Imperial (Lomonosov) Porcelain Manufactory.
Russian Backstamps.
External links
- Official Imperial Porcelain Manufactory Website: Imperial Porcelain Manufactory (in English)
- Making of Russian Imperial (Lomonosov) Porcelain (video)
See also
- Porcelain manufacturing companies in Europe