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Dresden china lays claim to being the first European hard paste porcelain. The story goes that an apothecary and his alchemist assistant reverse engineered the secret of hard paste porcelain, a secret which had been the exclusive province of the Middle Kingdom since the Tang dynasty. The apothecary died before the Meissen factory went into production, so the apothecary wound up with most of the personal profits. Wolfe doesn't mention this factoid in Peace, but it's a curious background item not much different from the Tilly/Smart partnership.
If you're interested in early German porcelain I highly recommend the Dixon Gardens & Gallery in Memphis.
They have a great collection of porcelain and pewter from Germany as well as a beautiful collection of American Impressionist paintings.