Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Belorussia in 1887. He began his work in the Pen workshops in Vitebsk in 1906 and Bakst in St. Petersburg in 1907. He travelled to Paris in 1911 where his encounters with the Avant-Gardists were decisive. In 1914, the first exhibition of monographs was organized in Berlin before his return to Vitebsk. Chagall became Public Superintendent of Fine Arts and founded an art school. The painter left Russia definitively in 1923 and moved to Paris where he developed a personal style that demonstrated the marriage of iconography and Jewish, Russian and French culture. Upon his return in 1948 from self-imposed exile in the United States during World War II, Chagall became one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century - a marvellous colorist and story teller - until his death in 1985 at Saint-Paul, France.

Ceramic product made from kaolin, quartz and feldspar.

Porcelain is formed by turning or pressing. Figural representations are cast. Complex molds have to be cast in sections and then "applied". After molding, the pieces are dried and "burnt" at about 900 °C. After that, the glaze is applied and fired at temperatures between 1,240 °C and 1,445 °C. In major manufactures, the porcelain is painted by hand with each color separately and has to be burned in compliance with narrow temperature tolerances.

The porcelain was invented in China and became widespread in Europe in the 16th century. The first European porcelain factory was founded in Meissen in 1710.

Other famous European porcelain factories are Fürstenberg, Höchst, Schwarzburger Werkstätten, Lladró, Nymphenburg, KPM, Augarten, Sèvres, Limoges, Royal Copenhagen, Worcester. Individual factories label their products with the porcelain brands that serve to identify their origin.

Related links:
Schwarzburg Workshops of the Porcelain Art
Lladró