Ludwigsburg Porcelain Manufactory
The Ludwigsburg Porcelain Manufactory was a porcelain manufactory founded by Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, on 5 April 1758 by decree as the Herzoglich-ächte Porcelaine-Fabrique. The company was renamed Schlossmanufaktur Ludwigsburg GmbH and was dissolved in 2016 after a long period of insolvency, ending nearly 260 years of operation.
History
Until the 18th century, porcelain had to be imported into Europe from East Asia and was thus rare on the continent. However, the study of porcelain's manufacture had already been underway in Europe since the 17th century, with the Delft Porcelain Manufacturies and its crude early product. The largest of these factories, the De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, still survives today. The first German porcelain manufactory was the Meissen workshop, and was followed by the manufactories in Vienna in 1718, the Höchst Porcelain Manufactory in 1746, Fürstenberg and Nymphenburg in 1747, Berlin in 1751, and then Frankenthal Porcelain Factory in 1755. France and England at the same time saw the foundations of the workshops at Chatilly in 1725, the Sèvres in 1738, and London's Chelsea manufactory in 1743. In 1729, Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg, tasked an Elias Vater to "make such porcelain as they have in Saxony."
The company's lease was extended to 31 December 2015 and was supposed to shut down at the end of the year,[1] but managed to survive until early 2016.