Lucky dip - Meissen china
white gold
The other day I did a lucky dip and came up with an old volume in the Time-Life series Food of the World. This one was The Food of Germany and the page I opened it at was the first page of the chapter on the history of German food. I was somewhat uninspired and even more so by the photograph at left with this incredibly ornate place setting of Meissen china - said to be 'the most valuable in the world.'
So uninspired by this was I, that I quickly thought of something else to write about. But I didn't want to renege on my policy of lucky dips - not chickening out, so it has been sitting on my desk waiting for a more appropriate moment, which is now, because I don't have much time.
Quite a few years ago now I read a book called The Arcanum by Janet Gleeson which was an account of how porcelain came to be finally made in Europe. It was a fascinating tale of eccentrics, greed and skullduggery, centring on the man who discovered the formula Johan Friedrich Böttger who was the founder of the Meissen factory. For Meissen was the first porcelain to be produced in Europe - in 1708. It still makes porcelain today but has branched out into a whole lot of other things, such as architecture and jewellery. Still hugely successful.
The eccentric was Böttger who was an alchemist. In fact he was imprisoned for it because he promised to make gold for his ruler, and failed of course. Instead he found the formula for porcelain - white gold. Then and now it commands huge prices. But this fancy stuff is really not to my taste.
Over time tastes have changed so much have they not, so that nowadays the most fashionable kind of dinner service can be something a simple as a piece of slate or a lump of wood. We are returning to our poor peasant heritage. What was once for the poor is now for the rich. But white is still the thing. Nowadays most china seems to be finer than in the sixties and seventies and largely white.
When we bought our 'best' dinner set shortly after we arrived in Australia, we decided on the hot style of the time - Karelia by Arabia. It cost us quite a lot but not as much as Meissen.
It's wonderful sturdy stuff - from Finland. Finland and the rest of Scandinavia was all the rage back then. I don't think it's made anymore but I see you can still buy it on eBay. Maybe one of our children will take it over when we die! And I suspect the heavier and more rustic look is coming back in.
Mind you on a daily basis we use a cheap plain white set of sort of porcelain from Maxwell Williams, and I have no doubt that lots of other people do too. I remember reading somewhere that food looks best on white plates - which is why, more than likely, you will get food on white plates in restaurants. It's like white sheets and towels in hotels. You can bleach out all the dirt.
But then I don't dine in the very top places of the world or with the rich and famous. I suspect the top restaurants go for white on the whole but as for the rich and famous - well it's all a matter of taste isn't it? And maybe if you've got wealth you might want to flaunt it by serving your food on antique Meissen china. I wonder if 'ordinary' people ever used Meissen china. That style obviously came down in price as others discovered the secret and most Victorians had fancy little china cups. Even my grandmother did.
Anyway - food for thought.
