Embossing

Embossing - an ancient craftsmanship of porcelain making

Unfortunately, the term "embossing" is not found in the relevant technical literature. It originally comes from the French and is derived from a lump of soft material. The bossier usually works with plaster, wax, talc, tree resins or soft clays. In contrast to modelling, the embossing artist does not make his own objects, but "embosses" shelves, edges and other decorations for lamps, furniture, jewelry, stucco, ornaments and other statuettes, which then got later finished.

In the European porcelain industry, the profession of the "porcelain embosser" was established from the beginning of the late 18th century onwards, who was entrusted with the production of objects of art for the aristocratic houses in the historic manufactories in Meissen, Fürstenberg, Ludwigsburg, Dresden, Frankenthal and others. During this time, the nobility of the upper class were virtually competing to see who could produce the most beautiful and unusual pieces in porcelain (soft porcelain).

According to our assumption, the transformation of the art of embossing into porcelain manufacturing originates from the processing of soft porcelain. In the 19th century, bossiering matured into a recognized craft and was taught at the University of Chemnitz, among others. Porcelain figures and other statuettes were then assembled and fired from various prefabricated porcelain elements of different techniques, including the so-called frits.

The profession of the embosser almost died out at the end of the 20th century and was replaced by the increasing industrialization. It may be that there are still small companies and manufactories today that still practice the art of embossing. But we assume that this is more a hobby or image than an economic profit motive. The only existing porcelain bossing workshop we have ever visited in modern times was a provincial government enterprise in Guangdong (China), in the National Museum of Foshan. There, embossers make ornaments for major investors - mostly for the government. The picture above shows the production of a 3.5 meter high door made of ceramics, which was made for a building in the "Forbidden City".  Production time: about 3 years. Number of processed bosses: About 2 million

In the porcelain collection of Holst Porzellan there are 2 embossed statuettes from the Foshan State Manufactory. A "Chinese Blue Rain" (Wisteria Glyzine) with about 150.000 bosses and an "Orchid Tree" (Bauhinia Variegate) with more than 200.000 bosses. But we did not really count the number of bosses.