DANISH PORCELAIN
250 Years of Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl
Elliot Todd
Chapter 3 A New Factory and the Development of a New Nationalistic Style
Opposite: Porsgrund vase attributed to Thorolf Holmboe, c.1907–11 [detail of 2.3.13]
Right: 1.3.1 Map showing factory and store locations. Teal: original Royal Copenhagen factory and retail store; blue: Aluminia and new Royal Copenhagen factory; yellow: Bing & Grøndahl factory; red: new Royal Copenhagen retail store; orange: Bing & Grøndahl retail store
In April 1884, Royal Copenhagen moved from their original site at 50 Købmagergade to Frederiksberg, which was then on the outskirts of Copenhagen [1.3.1]. The new factory on Smållegade was adjacent to the Aluminia factory (formerly occupied by the Nobel Tobacco Factory), which had been producing faience at this same site since 1868 [1.3.2].1 Bordering Frederiksberg Gardens [1.3.2, 1.3.4, 1.3.5], the new factory was ideally situated to foster artistic inspiration. A series of new buildings on this site were equipped with kilns designed by Philip Schou, which were able to fire up to 15,000 porcelain pieces in a single cycle. Also included in this facility were new state-of-theart, steam-powered pumps and other mechanically driven equipment for evaporating clay slip, wedging clay, pressing hollowware shapes
and the wheel throwing/trimming of pots [1.3.6] – advances stemming from the Industrial Revolution in England.2 However, the essential skills required for modelling, shaping, painting, piercing and decorating pieces by hand remained as they had been since the factory’s inception.
The move to Frederiksberg resulted in the loss of the factory’s original showrooms on Købmagergade, a street in central Copenhagen that was previously noted for upscale shops. During the late 19th century, many of the most elite shops moved to Strøget (today the famed pedestrianised area), situated between Rådhuspladsen (the City Hall Square) and Kongens Nytorv, with Amagertorv located near its centre. It was here at 10 Amagertorv that the newly designed retail
Opposite: 1.3.38a Vase by Marianne Høst showing first painting technique used, October 1886 (See 2.5.5)
Above: 1.3.38b Sketch for a vase by Marianne Høst, October 1886
The annotation reads: ‘One pair of vases no. 21, decorated with flowers and birds in darker and lighter blue. Price: 15 kr.’ (See Chapter 5)
Right: 1.3.39 Vase by Frans A. Hallin partially decorated with airbrush technique, September 1890 (See 2.5.21)
airbrushing, including chrome green and another that varied from brown to coral red. The background was then worked using the same paint application (e.g., stylus or brush) and removal methods (e.g., knife or chamois) [1.3.43, 2.5.5]. Often the desired motif was incised with a knife and became permanent when the colours settled into the furrows [See 2.5.42, 2.5.51, 2.5.78].
Factory artists were thrilled with the possibilities that these new techniques offered and continuously experimented to achieve new effects.28 These colours could be mixed to obtain different hues and shades or even added to the glaze or porcelain slip that was applied to the form to produce decorations in relief. Krog and Liisberg, along with Anna Smidth [See 2.5.42, 2.5.50], Gerhard Heilmann [See 2.4.11, 2.5.52] and Bertha Nathanielsen [See 2.5.101, 2.5.134], about whom much more will be said later, are probably best known for their work in relief. In one notable vase produced by Heilmann, the unpainted bisque porcelain was carved away to reveal a series of raised storks [1.3.42]. Additional experiments focused on the application of moulded decorations in porcelain, similar to what the pottery maker Bernard Palissy had done in France around 1560, which often yielded fascinating results [1.3.44]. Liisberg, who received his first formal training as a sculptor, was interested in modelling fish, mice, frogs and crabs from nature onto vases and bowls. Beginning in 1890, Krog and the modeller Erik Nielsen began making direct casts and models of leaves (water lily, chestnut)
[See 2.6.191], fish [See 2.6.189], snails [See 2.6.190], frogs [See 2.7.5], mice [See 2.6.216], lizards [See 2.6.213], insects [See 2.6.215, 2.6.252] and crustaceans [See 2.6.207, 2.6.236, 2.7.13]. For these purposes, the factory maintained an aquarium and terrarium, with the studios taking on a greenhouse-like atmosphere. These naturally moulded ornaments were applied with slip to various vases, bowls and free-form plates that were then fired, painted, glazed and re-fired.
This new form of underglaze painting was unbounded by tradition. The choice of motifs was limited only by the artist’s own skill, creativity and imagination. Consequently, as mentioned earlier, a wide range of ideas and styles were tested. These most commonly included various depictions of Danish flora and fauna, sometimes with applied ornamentation or portions in relief; as well as landscapes and seascapes – but rarely portraits or human subjects on vases and chargers. The years 1885 to 1890 saw considerable experimentation with many of the earliest pieces ending as dismal failures, some of which were retained for study purposes and others undoubtedly discarded in disgust [1.3.45]. Those so-called retained ‘failures’ that were later placed in the factory’s permanent collection have become an invaluable resource for tracing the artistic development of underglaze painting.29 Any successful pieces produced during these initial years were eagerly sought by European nobility and wealthy collectors, primarily from abroad, and are now primarily found in a
Chapter 5 Unique Underglaze Works
Unarguably Royal Copenhagen’s most important artist, Arnold Krog was hired in October 1884 by the factory’s director Philip Schou to forge a new nationalistic style for Danish porcelain.1 Schou’s dream was soon to be met. After assuming his role as artistic leader in January 1885, Arnold Krog [1.5.1, 1.5.2] hired Carl F. Liisberg (1885–1909) [1.5.3, 1.6.13] and Frans A. Hallin (1885–95) [See 1.13.10], with Hallin serving as Liisberg’s assistant. Being in their early twenties when they began at the factory in 1885, both men were fascinated by Krog’s new ideas and were actively involved in developing new underglaze painting techniques from the start. Three young women – Marianne Høst (1885–1904) [1.5.4], Anna Smidth (1885–1915) [1.5.5] and Jenny Kondrup (1885–90) – also joined the factory in 1885, along with 14-yearold Oluf Jensen (1885–1934) [1.5.6, shown here at age 31], who soon became one of the factory’s leaders.2 All four individuals were initially trained to paint ‘Blue Fluted’ dinnerware under Krog’s guidance.3 By 1887, the circle of signature artists expanded to include 26-year-old Carl Mortensen (1887–1901) [1.5.7], who graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen as a sculptor in 1886, as had Liisberg that same year, and Anna Birgitte Jørgensen (1887–93).4,5
Detailed records of the unique underglaze pieces produced from 1885 to 1888 generally do not exist, with the exception of those few items mentioned in Krog’s personal logbook.6 In addition, few details remain regarding specific pieces that were shown at the 1888 Nordic
Opposite: Vase by Carl F. Liisberg decorated with blue orchids against an Art Nouveau background, August 1900 [detail of 2.5.109]
Right: 1.5.1 Arnold Krog, Artistic Director, c.1902
1.5.8a,b Photographic records of unique works from the factory archives, 1891 (Above, see 2.5.28, 2.5.29; below, see 2.4.8)
Opposite page, from top: 1.5.8c Photographic record of unique works from the factory archives, 1892 (See 2.4.10)
1.5.8d Photographic record of unique works from the factory archives, 1893 (See 2.5.58)
Chapter 7
Crystalline and Other Glazes
At the 1889 Paris Exposition, Royal Copenhagen received repeated accolades for their distinctly Danish style of underglaze-decorated porcelain. Although these were eagerly sought by museums, royalty, collectors and upper aristocracy, their success was somewhat surprising, since tastes were shifting towards the vibrant flambé glazes developed by Sèvres five years earlier. Resembling precious and semi-precious stones, these Chinese-style ‘grand feu’ flambé glazes, in various shades of red, orange, yellow and purple, attracted much attention. Most notable were pieces by Ernest Chaplet, the leading French ceramist of the time.
In the autumn of 1887, the Danish art collector William Salmonsen viewed a group of Chaplet’s works in coloured glazes at an exhibition in Paris, all of which had been previously sold.1 However, Salmonsen was later able to acquire a few of works directly from Chaplet’s Paris studio, which were shown to a select group of ceramists after his return to Copenhagen. These brightly coloured ‘grand feu’ glazes attracted the attention of Karl Madsen, Pietro Krohn, Emil Hannover and Bernhard Hirschsprung, as well as Arnold Krog, who was a close friend of Salmonsen.
As the technical manager at Royal Copenhagen, Adolphe Clément was initially responsible for expanding the range of underglaze colours. Recognising the emerging importance of these new glazes, he created a few vases with coloured glazes for the 1888 Nordic Exhibition of Industry, Agriculture and Art in Copenhagen. Among the works shown were ‘two small vases in a reddish dominant colour with blue streaks’, which have never been found
Planter with applied snails and blue crystalline glaze with tan and ochre, c.1896 [detail of 2.7.11]
[See also 2.7.1].2 However, a few of these early glazed vases from Arnold Krog’s personal collection, presumably by Clément, were given to Bernard Hirschsprung, who, in 1910, bequeathed them to the Kunstindustrimuseet in Copenhagen (now Designmuseum Denmark), where they remain today. Arnold Krog also began to experiment with these same glazes on small vases. One example, dated October 1889, now belongs to the Sèvres Museum.
Being a chemist with keen insight into synthetic minerals, Adolphe Clément conducted a series of early experiments that ultimately led to the exploitation and further development of a wide range of crystalline glazes by his follower, Valdemar Engelhardt, who joined the factor in 1891 [1.7.1].3 Clément’s first success came in 1886, when several crystals were drawn from the porcelain kiln in a crucible. These first crystals were donated that same year to the Mineralogical Museum in Copenhagen, where they are still preserved. While loose crystals were easily created in a crucible, the first attempts to form these crystals on porcelain ended in failure – the glaze material was absorbed into the porcelain clay during firing. However, being well versed in scientific literature, Clément soon found an 1888 report in the Bulletin de la Société Chimique in which Sèvres provided detailed instructions concerning the preparation of crystalline glazes from zinc oxide, along with how to compound other coloured glazes for porcelain that resembled marble and jasper.4 With this information in hand, Clément focused on the former, applying these flambé and crystalline glaze formulas to porcelain as Charles Lauth-Vogt had first done at Sèvres during 1884 and 1885.5 These glazes required the application of a zinc-based crystalline glaze to the pre-fired porcelain, followed by two high-temperature firings. After the first firing, quartz and zinc oxide were brushed on, with copper, cobalt, chromium, nickel, or tin added as pigments. After a second firing at the same temperature, spots, threads, or (most notably) ice-like crystals would eventually appear, after a prolonged cooling.
Opposite: 1.7.7 Grooved form developed by Arnold Krog in 1893 (See 2.7.4)
Right: 1.7.8 White crystalline glaze (See 2.7.16)
Chapter 13
The Signature Artists
At Royal Copenhagen, the leading underglaze signature artists responsible for the factory’s international fame were primarily men. Although there were several highly talented women artists, they often received less recognition. However, the opposite was true at Bing & Grøndahl. Effie Hegermann-Lindencrone and Fanny Garde, unarguably the two most talented artists, claim most of the credit for the international breakthroughs achieved by Bing & Grøndahl during the first quarter of the last century, marked by the Paris Expositions of 1900 and 1925. Separated in age by five years, both women were hired by Pietro Krohn. Their legacy, and that of Bing & Grøndahl, is strongly tied to their lifelong friendship. These two women had distinctly different upbringings. Whereas Garde was the daughter of a minister from Nørre Løgum in southern Jutland, Hegermann-Lindencrone was the titled daughter of an officer and enjoyed the many privileges of upper aristocracy. However, after meeting at and graduating from the Drawing School for Women in Copenhagen, their lives and their mutual passion for porcelain became closely intertwined. As students of Pietro Krohn in 1885, both women first took positions at Eifrig [Kjøbenhavns Leervarefabrik] in Valby, on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Some of the best Danish ceramists of the time worked there, including Joakim and Niels Skovgaard, Thorvald Bindesbøll and Theodor Philipsen.1 In 1886, Garde and Hegermann-Lindencrone were hired by Pietro Krohn to paint the famed but short-lived ‘Heron’ service, as discussed earlier. Both women remained at Bing & Grøndahl for the rest of their lives.
From the very beginning, Garde and Hegermann-Lindencrone shared a studio in the factory overlooking Kalvebods Beach [1.13.1,
Vase by Elisabeth Drewes shaped as a bouquet of tulips; underglaze blue liner, c.1899–1900 [detail of 2.13.17]
1.13.2]. This view is thought to have inspired Garde to develop her gull-decorated dinnerware service in 1892 [2.12.9], which soon joined the ‘Blue Fluted’ and ‘Blue Flower’ patterns of Royal Copenhagen as one of the top three Danish services both in Denmark and abroad.2-5 Garde and Hegermann-Lindencrone were lifelong companions who frequently travelled together and later shared a home. Hence, it is not surprising that their work is often strikingly similar. The same is also true for some of their floral drawings and watercolour paintings [2.13.61-63, 2.13.69].
Garde and Hegermann-Lindencrone shared the same numerical code dating system for their one-of-a-kind pieces [See Vol. 2 Appendix XVI ]. However, unnumbered pieces that pre-date this coding system are also known [2.13.1], the earliest of which date back to about 1890. By the time Fanny Garde died in April 1928, the two women had created a combined total of at least 1,982 unique works. HegermannLindencrone produced at least 450 additional pieces before her death in 1945. Both Garde and Hegermann-Lindencrone are best known for their elaborately carved and modelled Art Nouveau-style vases with floral or other motifs, many of which also include considerable open work [2.13.19, 2.13.20, 2.13.26, 2.13.31, 2.13.41, 2.13.44, 2.13.45]. A few collaborative vases bear both artist’s signatures. At least one vase known to be co-signed by these two artists also includes the signature of Elizabeth Drewes Kofoed – another important artist who will be discussed shortly.
In much of their earlier work, both artists made good use of the iron/bronze-coloured glaze developed by Willumsen, which created a striking contrast with their plant motifs in soft underglaze colours [2.13.20, 2.13.45].6-9 Shortly after 1900, Garde, along with Elisabeth Drewes and several other signature artists, became proficient at outlining their underglaze motifs with overglaze gold or silver. This gave a cloisonné-like effect, as seen in several examples dating from the early 1900s [2.13.28, 2.13.30, 2.13.31].10
Chapter 16
Forging and Maintaining an International Market
Birth of a Saleroom Officially formed in January 1775 as The Royal Danish Porcelain Manufactory, Royal Copenhagen was conceived with a keen business sense from the start, placing a major emphasis on the production of blue-and-white dinnerware for the masses. After nearly five years of operation, the factory’s inventory had increased to over 100,000 pieces. Given the large initial capital investment, the time had now come for retail sales. King Christian VII set an opening date of 29 January 1780 for direct public sales from the factory at 50 St. Købmagergade, which formerly housed the Copenhagen Post Office.1 To shore up the market, Denmark, which also ruled presentday Norway, simultaneously declared a moratorium on the purchase of non-Danish porcelain, with the exception of Chinese pieces imported by the Danish East Asiatic Company.
The opening of the factory’s well-stocked retail store on Wednesday 1 March 1780 was cleverly publicised by one of city’s poets in the local paper. Roughly translated from Danish, the piece read as follows:
Look! Behold! Silence Chinese! Brag not as you usually do, proud of your expensive stuff, your sharp mind and sight! Towards the north, people who own spirit and ears live. Judge not Europe, on one eye blind. Your hate has long admired the gift of the Sachsen. To create porcelain now and the Danish people can show you equal art. Keep the clay you have, we happily save our silver.2
The factory’s first showroom on the second floor was entered through a gate, followed by a stone staircase. It consisted of a single room measuring 12.5 m x 9.5 m with three windows overlooking the
Charger by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II, 2004
[detail of 2.16.15]
street and courtyard. In the centre of the room sat two pyramidshaped étagères where the factory’s figurines and other decorative items could be tastefully displayed, along with a furnace for warmth. The first customers were served by the store’s manager Knoblauch and his assistant, who were conversant in German and French. Initially, the store averaged three customers per day and was open from 8am to 7pm, making for many long days.3
Beginning in 1780 and continuing until 1844, Royal Copenhagen maintained a record of all sales, which included a description of the item sold, the date, the price and the customer’s name. This 64-volume set (one volume per year) was housed in Aarhus.4 The factory had nine paying customers on their opening day, including Queen Juliane Marie’s lady-in-waiting, who purchased two pieces in the ‘blue onion’ pattern for five crowns. By the end of 1780, total sales reached 14,824 rigsdalers, with the factory’s 943 customers coming from all walks of life, including the royal household. Based on the range of items purchased – from the predominant ordinary ‘Blue Fluted’ dinnerware to exceedingly costly presentation items5 – these early sales records provide an important glimpse into the cultural and socioeconomic fabric of the time.
During the first 10 years, members of the Danish royal family accounted for 14 per cent of the total sales with the majority of their purchases comprised of elaborate flowered vases with silhouette portraits as well as luncheon, tea, coffee or chocolate sets in silklined mahogany boxes that were destined for the Danish aristocracy and other royal houses of Europe.6 Although the royal family also purchased a wide range of extremely costly overglaze-decorated dinnerware services for their own use, the ‘Blue Mussel’ pattern, which was produced in abundance, soon became highly fashionable among moderately affluent Danes, along with the more costly ‘Blue Flower’ pattern. In order to better grasp prices at the time, when the store opened in 1780, two ‘Blue Mussel’ cups cost as much as
Left: 1.16.100 Reproduction of an early vase by Arnold Krog, c.1985–89 (See 1.3.37)
Opposite page:
Top Left: 1.16.101 ‘Blue Mega’ pattern dish with the factory mark for Royal Copenhagen items made in Thailand
Top right: 1.16.102 ‘Still Making Waves’, Royal Copenhagen's celebration of their 250th anniversary in 2025
Bottom right: 1.16.103 Royal Copenhagen’s store on Amagertorv, 2024
Given the increasing production costs in Denmark, in 2003 Royal Copenhagen formed a joint venture with Patra Porcelain in Saraburi, Thailand to assess the feasibility of relocating much of the production overseas.273 Applying Royal Copenhagen standards and educational practices, a successful process for educating Thai craftsmen in blue underglaze painting was soon in place. Thereafter, a tract of land was purchased from Patra with a small painting facility built in preparation for large-scale production of the dinnerware and annual plates. The new Royal Copenhagen and Patra-owned facility grew rapidly from 2004 to 2012, with most parts of Royal Copenhagen’s production moving from Glostrup to Thailand in April 2008.274 In keeping with this move, all pieces still maintain the factory’s three wavy blue lines, but no longer state Denmark as the country of origin [1.16.101]. From 2009 to 2012 the range of items offered by Royal Copenhagen decreased from about 3,000 to 750. Although the traditional underglaze decorated vases and virtually all figurines have been discontinued, production of the Christmas plates continued uninterrupted with various annual figurine series and other collector items introduced for the Asian market.
In December 2012, the Finnish company Fiskars – founded in 1649 – added Royal Copenhagen A/S (controlled by the Danish private equity group Axcel) and its employees to their portfolio for about $87 million. Their umbrella already included three other Scandinavian design companies – Iittala (glass and ceramics), and Rörstrand and Arabia (ceramics).275 As of 2024, most Royal Copenhagen-owned stores and retail partners are situated in Denmark, Japan, Korea and China with global online distribution readily available through www. royalcopenhagen.com. Production is largely confined to 11 variations of their hand-painted fluted tableware and other patterns including ‘Princess’, ‘Star Fluted Christmas’, ‘Elements’, ‘Blueline’, ‘Blomst’, ‘Alphabet’, ‘Flora’, ‘HAV’ and ‘Royal Creatures’. Royal Copenhagen’s time-honoured ‘Flora Danica’ service remains among the world’s most prestigious and luxurious tableware with each piece still carefully hand-crafted at the factory in Glostrup.
Since their beginning, Royal Copenhagen has faced and overcome many obstacles including technical challenges, material shortages, bombings, changes in ownership, factory relocations, two world wars,
Image embargoed until January 2025
a string of economic downturns, changing consumer needs, worker strikes and decreased sales – all of which led to the aforementioned mergers and production overseas.
However, the company has persevered and remains iconic just as the dignified Royal Copenhagen flagship store at Amagertorv 6 has served as a beacon for visitors from near and far for more than 100 years [2.16.103]. Given the continuous artistic and creative developments at the factory’s Design Centre in Glostrup, Royal Copenhagen is well positioned to remain on the world stage for many years to come.
