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23 January 2024 (Tuesday)
The Porzellansammlung (porcelain collection) of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) is regarded as one of the world’s highest-quality and largest collections devoted to ceramics. The wealth of treasures in the former royal collection include Chinese and Japanese porcelain as well as unique masterpieces from the early days of the Meissen manufactory. Around 8,200 of the originally more than 29,000 East Asian ceramics in the collection are still preserved today. Of these, the most beautiful and important pieces are exhibited in the Dresden Zwinger. The majority are stored in depots, away from the public eye.
All the surviving East Asian porcelain objects from Augustus the Strong’s collection have been digitally catalogued for the first time as part of the Dresden Porcelain Project, an international research collaboration that began in 2014 and has lasted a decade. From now on, all the objects will be freely accessible to everyone on ‘The Royal Dresden Porcelain Collection’ platform. This flagship project offers a unique insight into the fascinating world of porcelain and sets new standards in digital publishing.
The English-language platform is aimed not only at a specialist audience but also at the general public, inviting them to interact with this important cultural heritage.
Another invaluable aspect is the integration of the six extant inventory books from the 18th century, which provide us with new insights today, for example, about the trade routes for East Asian porcelain at the time and its reception and appreciation at the Saxon court. They were transcribed and translated into English for the first time as part of the project.
This reference collection and its sources were researched in close collaboration with an international team of 35 scholars from Europe, China, Japan, Taiwan and the USA. They contributed to digitising, publishing and making the entire historical collection of East Asian porcelain accessible online for the first time. The platform interconnects all the data and content in such a way that it can be accessed both exploratively and in different contexts from anywhere in the world.
Unrestricted access to all of the extensive material is freely available in accordance with the principles of open access, inviting and opening up new transcultural and transdisciplinary collaborations. During the course of the project, Adrian Sauer took over 36,000 new photographs of the porcelain objects from multiple angles, which can be magnified. These can be downloaded under Creative Commons licenses.
The digital platform was created together with the Dresden-based software company Robotron GmbH and TBO Interactive in Berlin. They provided the design, technical concept, and brought the project to fruition in close cooperation with the Porzellansammlung.
The project was made possible by the support of the two main sponsors, Bei Shan Tang Foundation in Hong Kong and the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation. Numerous other national and international institutions and private individuals contributed to creating the platform, including the Museum & Research Foundation, the Freundeskreis der Dresdner Porzellansammlung im Zwinger e. V., the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange in Taipei, and the CERAMICA Foundation Basel.
About The Royal Dresden Porcelain Collection
Recording of the Press Conference (held on Tuesday, 23 January 2024)
