Painting

The designs are Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg's signature. Hardly any other manufactory has such a wealth of motifs and opulence in its range. One dozen porcelain makers working in the halls built in 1760 realise a wide variety of different motifs using original artwork on the glaze of the smoothly finished porcelain. Painters may take up to three weeks to complete just one plate in the Cumberland service, which is regarded as the most complex flower design in the world. Only at Nymphenburg do the painters work without templates and so it may take up to 15 years before a "beginner" may take on certain painting tasks at Nymphenburg. Many of the necessary skills and much of the knowledge are passed down by word of mouth to the following generation. With such essential oils as turpentine, rose and lavender oil, the painters mix the shades of colour they require for their own designs from the paint powder produced at the company's own laboratory. The paints are fused with the glaze during the final firing, the muffle firing. And many colours change significantly during this process. Which places great demands on the painters who must be fully versed in how the colours must be mixed and applied and how they develop during firing. And those who join Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg at a young age usually remain with the company for life.

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