German hard-paste, or true, porcelain produced at the Meissen factory, near Dresden in Saxony (now Germany), from 1710 until the present day.
It was the first successfully produced true porcelain in Europe and dominated the style of European porcelain until с 1756. The high point of the Meissen factory was reached after 1731 with the modeling of Johann Joachim Kandler . The onion pattern, introduced с 1739, was widely copied. Meissen porcelain is marked with crossed blue swords.
Meissen hard-paste porcelain bird, c. 1750; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
By courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; photograph, EB Inc.