Carolus Magnus Hutschenreuther (9 April 1794 – 10 November 1845) was a German

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and the founder of the C.M. Hutschenreuther Porcelain Factory in

Hohenberg an der Eger Hohenberg an der Eger is a town in the district of Wunsiedel, in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Eger, on the border with the Czech Republic, 11 km west of Cheb, and 14 km northeast of Marktredwitz. It wa ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Early years

Carolus Magnus Hutschenreuther was born in Lichte (Wallendorf),

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

, the 15th child of Johann Heinrich Hutschenreuther, a

porcelain painter China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porcel ...

and owner of the Wallendorf Porcelain Manufactory. He earned his living selling porcelain items such as pipe-bowls and so-called Turkish cups in eastern

and especially in the spa towns of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. In 1814, Hutschenreuther discovered deposits of

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

, used to make fine white porcelain, near the River Eger, and decided to manufacture porcelain himself in Hohenberg,Theodor Bohner, ''Der ehrbare Kaufmann: vom Werden und Wirken deutscher Wirtschaft'', Hamburg: Meiner, 1956
p. 112
where a relative of his, Ernst Ludwig Reuß, was chief forester. Reuß made space available to him in Hohenburg Castle, and he began painting porcelain there and learning to manufacture it. In 1816 he married Reuß' daughter Johanna.

Foundation of the C.M. Hutschenreuther Porcelain Manufactory

On 10 September 1816, he applied for permission to establish a porcelain manufactory in Hohenburg; after many difficulties, the concession was finally granted on 7 November 1822. By this time he had acquired a disused

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , where is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium or a ...

works, ''Auf der Freundschaft'' (Friendship), on the site of the present-day Hutschenreuther factory. Initially, Hutschenreuther appears to have personally mixed the raw materials and overseen the firing, to guard the knowledge of the process. He was also probably responsible for most of the painting and shipping. Only after a second kiln and a larger

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

were constructed and additional porcelain decorators were added, including the sale of white wares to free-lance decorators, did the company become successful.

Legacy of C.M. Hutschenreuther

C.M. Hutschenreuther died at Hohenberg on 10 November 1845. His widow Johanna and his sons

Lorenz Lorenz is an originally German name derived from the Roman surname Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum". Given name People with the given name Lorenz include: * Prince Lorenz of Belgium (born 1955), member of the Belgian royal family by h ...

and Christian succeeded him as operators of the company, which withstood a serious fire in 1848, and Lorenz' departure in 1856 to form his own Hutschenreuther Porcelain Company in the neighbouring town of

Selb Selb is a town in the district of Wunsiedel, in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated in the Fichtelgebirge, on the border with the Czech Republic, 20 km northwest of Cheb and 23 km southeast of Hof. Selb is well known fo ...

. In 1969 this merged with the company founded by his father.

References

Sources

* Horst Sommerer
Geschichte von CM Hutschenreuther
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutschenreuther, Carolus Magnus 1794 births 1845 deaths Businesspeople from Thuringia German potters People from Saalfeld-Rudolstadt Hohenberg an der Eger German company founders 19th-century German businesspeople