PORCELAIN – referred to as “white gold”, has become a synonym of splendor, wealth and uniqueness in royal courts, among the aristocracy and nobility.
European porcelain in the 18th century not only equaled its Far Eastern prototypes, but even surpassed them, significantly changing the image of society in which freedom of imagination triumphed, as Prof. Mariusz Karpowicz describing the 18th-century art of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the rule of the kings of the Saxon Wettin dynasty. The essence of this triumph – both in its bold, theatrical arrangement and narrative – is referenced in the new, permanent exhibition of the Wawel Royal Castle entitled The Porcelain Cabinet. It presents not only the most outstanding, exquisitely crafted porcelain works from the factory in Meissen founded by King Augustus II, but also a wide spectrum of material culture of the 18th century. The collection presented in this way is the most significant in Central Europe.