Jun
In this article, we will discuss and take a look at the mesmerizing story of Francis Gardner, who made the well-known Gardner factory. He made his money by trading foreign currency and later established a porcelain factory. The factory was passed down through the family until it was sold. During the 18th and 19th centuries, he was extremely popular, and he even obtained a significant grant from Catherine II at the beginning of the 1770s. Though in 1890, it was sold to M.S. Kuznetsov, but it still bears the Francis Gardner factory name.
The significance of Gardner porcelain
The first plant of the factory was established in Verbilki, a small village in Moscow Province’s Dmitrov district. The Gardner Porcelain Plant was notable for being Russia’s first private porcelain factory. Though there was the Imperial Porcelain Factory which was established before the garden factory in 1744, however, this factory produced porcelain only for the Imperial Court of Russia.
The Gardner factory, by the mid-1770s, started competing with the Imperial Porcelain Factory in terms of both creative merit and production quality. As a result, Gardner Porcelain received plenty of orders from the Russian Imperial Court, the most coveted of which was the fabrication of massive and exquisite royal banquet services. Empress Catherine II was a big lover of Gardner porcelain, and she hired the factory to create pieces for her son’s suburban home. In addition, the Gardener Factory’s prominence was enhanced by Imperial commissions, which drew a slew of private commissions from the Russian nobility.
Even though in the 19th century, many new private factories opened in Russia, still the Gardner Factory maintained its quality and high standards, which earned them a prestigious reputation for excellence. Aside from producing high-quality goods, the Gardner Factory was also aware of shifting trends and styles. In the Patriotic war of1812, napoleon’s defeat created a new surge of national awareness, sparking renewed interest in everyday life. The period is characterized by High Neoclassical aesthetics and the details of a Romanticized scenario of Russian peasant life.
International acclaim
At the 1937 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the garden factory earned international praise and received many prestigious awards. The former name of the Russian Gardner’s factory was restored after the end of Russian Communism.
Fun fact
By listening to the fascinating story about the Russian garden porcelain mentioned above, we believe that many of you might have developed an interest in it. If you are curious, then we recommend you to visit Islamabad antiques. You never know, you might decide to buy one thing or two!
