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In Search of White Gold:
Porcelain from Nyon and Zurich

21.09.2007 – 09.03.2008

The major exhibition in 2007 examines the history of porcelain, and how its emergence and subsequent production in Switzerland at factories in Zurich and Nyon led to a lasting transformation in socialising and dining. The Swiss National Museum’s porcelain collection is being shown here for the first time in western Switzerland.

In Zurich, a group of politicians, businessmen and intellectuals take a bold gamble: setting up a porcelain factory in a country without raw materials and without the protection of a ruler. Porcelain manufacture begins in 1764, some years before the royal factory in Sèvres discovers the secret of making this valuable material.

In 1781, some 15 years later, one of Europe’s last porcelain factories of the 18th century opens in Nyon.

In addition to numerous dinner services, the exhibition concentrates on groups of figures depicting various themes – from hunting to scenes of gallantry and allegorical pieces that adorned the middle-class table on feast days.

Radio interview (Radio of French-speaking Switzerland, Dare-Dare broadcast on the 2.10.07)