KONIGLICHE PORZELLAN-MANUFAKTUR, CIRCA 1880

In 1751 Wilhelm Caspar Wegely, a Swiss wool manufacturer was given a concession to manufacture hard-paste porcelain in Berlin. The poor quality of Wegelys products, however, as well as financial problems during the Seven Years War (1756-63), forced his enterprise to close in 1757. Production was renewed in 1761 when Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, a Berlin merchant and financier took over the concession. Two years later though, King Frederick the Great purchased the factory, which was again in debt, and transformed it into the Konigliche Porzellan-Manufaktur. He directed it personally until his death in 1786, after which it was run by a committee. Finally, in 1918 it was absorbed by the state, becoming the Staatliche Porzellanmanufaktur.