Hausmalerei

Augsburg hausmalerei cup 1725-40

Meissen teapot of c. 1725, painted in Delft c. 1730

Hausmalerei (German: home painting) is a tradition originating with the freelance enamelers on glass in Bohemia but developed in Germany on white tin-glazed earthenware in the 17th century, in which glazed and fired but unpainted wares "in the white" were purchased on speculation by unsupervised freelance ateliers of china painters, who decorated them in overglaze enamel colours and gilding, which were fixed by further firing in their own kilns. A few such freelance decorators of faience operated in Nuremberg in the late 17th century,^[1] but hausmalerei developed in Augsburg into a notable feature of tin-glazed earthenware production during the early 18th century, before the workshops turned entirely to porcelain. Hausmalerei reached am artistic pinnacle with paintings on Meissen porcelain and Vienna porcelain in the second quarter of the 18th century; sometimes Meissen porcelains remained blank for decades before they were painted.^[2]

In England, among independent porcelain-painters of the mid-18th century, William Duesbury went on to manufacture porcelain as a founder of the Royal Crown Derby and owner of manufactories at Bow, Chelsea, Derby and Longton Hall.

In France, the production of Sèvres porcelain was tightly controlled, so that painting was under strict factory control. By contrast, Limoges porcelain has always maintained a strong tradition of atelier decoration, whether near Limoges or at Paris.

Traditions of hausmalerei were never wholly extinguished. The founder of Heinrich & Co began as a hausmaler, purchasing porcelain blanks until he set up his own kilns ca 1903. From 1930 the Czech hausmaler Josef Kuba (1896-1972) maintained an atelier in Karlsbad, Czech Republic, and later in Wiesau, Bavaria. supplied by various porcelain manufacturers in Bavaria.^[3]

References

1. John Fleming and Hugh Honour, Dictionary of the Decorative Arts (1977)s.v. "Hausmaler".
2. M tray, ca 1730, with hausmalerei of ca 1750.
3. Porcelain Marks & More: Wiesau