Hillwood’s ‘Luxury of Clay’ surveys glories of ‘white gold’

Soup plate from Her Majesty’s Own Service, Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg, Russia, circa 1759. Hard-paste porcelain. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, acc. no. 25.224. Photo credit: Edward Owen
Soup plate from Her Majesty’s Own Service, Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg, Russia, circa 1759. Hard-paste porcelain. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, acc. no. 25.224. Photo credit: Edward Owen
Soup plate from Her Majesty’s Own Service, Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg, Russia, circa 1759. Hard-paste porcelain. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, acc. no. 25.224. Photo credit: Edward Owen

WASHINGTON — The opulence and invention that characterized the evolution of hard-paste porcelain are explored in the special exhibition The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present, on view this year at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens from February 19 through June 26. With more than 125 objects, ranging from 18th-century Meissen, Du Paquier, KPM, and the Imperial Porcelain Factory to contemporary objects that reimagine the enduring art form today, The Luxury of Clay will explore how the important discovery of so-called “true porcelain” in Europe ignited centuries of innovation and creativity.

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