117 regarded in any case, was one of the tasks commonly performed by women at the Manufactory. Both the status and pay of blue-painters were invariably inferior to those of the “overglaze decorators”. Whether male or female, their job was seen as being to produce straightforward utilitarian porcelains for general sale (figs. 1 and 2). The continental blockade imposed by Napoleon (1806 –1813) enabled production to be further increased due to the absence of competing wares from Britain. This upturn was brief, however, and was in any case eclipsed by factors such as the contraction of Saxony’s domestic market after the country was forced to cede territory to Prussia at the Congress of Vienna (1814 –1815) or the passing of the Prussian Customs Act in 1818, which hindered the importation of goods from Saxony. 2 Staff statistics in: Böhmert 1880, p. 80, reproduction.
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