FPS LIVING ROOM LECTURES

The French Porcelain Society continues its series of weekly online lectures with Sebastian Kuhn, on the porcelain collections of three Baden princesses. We hope you can join us!

Lecture: PORCELAINE À LA MODE: THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COLLECTIONS OF THE BADEN PRINCESSES – Sebastian Kuhn

Time: Saturday, 9 May 2020, 19:00PM London, UK (BST)

Members will receive an email invitation with instructions on how to join the online lecture. If you want to join, please contact us for more details on FPSenquiries@gmail.com.

PORCELAINE À LA MODE: THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COLLECTIONS OF THE BADEN PRINCESSES

Sebastian Kuhn

The ruling family of Baden in southwestern Germany boasted three notable porcelain collectors in the eighteenth century, all of them female: the Margravines Sibylla Augusta of Baden-Baden (1675–1733), Magdalena Wilhelmine of Baden-Durlach (1677–1742), and Karoline Luise of Baden-Durlach (1723–1783).

Whereas the first two collections were grandly displayed in a Northern European Baroque manner, Karoline Luise was a great figure of the Enlightenment. She perceived the collections she inherited of her forebears through the lens of science as well as fashion, and took a keen interest in understanding the technical difficulties in producing this ‘white gold’.

In the nineteenth century, these historic collections were treated as closed and the porcelain was used to decorate palaces and put on public display.

Along with the scope and context of the collections, this talk will discuss the changes in the way the porcelain was perceived and displayed in the eighteenth century.

Image: © Schloss Favorite, Raststatt