With its wide-ranging jubilee exhibition 300 YEARS OF THE VIENNA PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY, the MAK is drawing attention to the history and significance of the second-oldest porcelain manufactory in Europe. Founded in May 1718 when the imperial privilege for porcelain production was granted to Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier, the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory set new aesthetic standards over the following decades. Some 1 000 objects from the holdings of the MAK as well as national and international collections offer a formidable overview of Viennese developments in the context of Asian precursors and European competitors.
 
The MAK has housed the legacy of the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory—under imperial ownership from 1744 and closed in 1864—and has been dedicated to researching porcelain since its founding years. With examples from all eras of production, the legacy provides an overview of some 150 years of porcelain production in Vienna. Viennese porcelain production covered a wide spectrum of ceramics: from dinnerware sets and vases to clocks, from high-quality porcelain sculptures to scenic and floral miniatures, from porcelain paintings with cobalt blue and gold decorations in relief to large-format porcelain pictures with floral still lifes.
 
The exhibition 300 YEARS OF THE VIENNA PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY presents the latest research findings with as yet unpublished documents on major works by the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory, such as the porcelain room from the Palais Dubsky in Brno (ca. 1740) and the centerpiece from Zwettl Abbey (Vienna, 1767/68). Both the “Dubsky Room,” one of the first rooms to be decorated with European porcelain, and the centerpiece from Zwettl Abbey are on permanent display in the MAK Permanent Collection Baroque Rococo Classicism, designed by Donald Judd.

Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by the publication 300 Years of the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory, edited by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein and Rainald Franz, with texts by Rainald Franz, Andreas Gamerith, Michael Macek, Errol Manners, Waltraud Neuwirth, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, A. Philipp Revertera, Elisabeth Schmuttermeier, Ulrike Scholda, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Leonhard Weidinger, and Johannes Wieninger. German/English, ca. 208 pages with numerous color illustrations. MAK, Vienna/Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart 2018. Available at the MAK Design Shop and at MAKdesignshop.at, for € 44.

Curator
Rainald Franz, Curator, MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection
Research Associate
Michael Macek, MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection

Guided Tours

Exhibition Tours
Every Sun, 3 p.m.

VIENNA PORCELAIN DAY
Exhibition tours
Sun, 27.5.2018, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

EVENING OF PORCELAIN TREASURES
Tue, 12.6.2018
6 p.m., Expert-Guided Tour
with Michael Macek, Research Associate, MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection
6–9 p.m., Have Your Porcelain Valued!
The experts Regina Herbst, Magda Pfabigan and Ursula Rohringer, Dorotheum Vienna, will share their expert opinions of your porcelain and provide an estimate of its worth in the MAK Kaminzimmer.
With the password “Porzellan-Schätze,” admission is free from 6 p.m. onwards.

Curator-Guided Tours
with Rainald Franz, Curator, MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection
Tue, 29.5.2018, 6 p.m.
Tue 17. 7.2018, 6 p.m.

Expert-Guided Tours
with Michael Macek, Research Associate, MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection
Tue, 12.6.2018, 6 p.m. 
Tue 14.8.2018, 6 p.m.