Popov′s porcelain is one of the most interesting phenomena in Russian culture. It marks a successful private initiative in the decorative and applied arts, concern for the intimate universe. The quality of workmanship, everyday comfort, and a measure of harmony have gained popularity among contemporaries and connoisseurs of porcelain to this day. This is always a point of attraction for family, interior and collection.
The future Popov porcelain factory was born in 1804 through the efforts of Karl Melli, a former associate of Gardner. For the plant in the village of Gorbunovo, forms, classicist ideas and porcelain manufacturing technologies were borrowed from there. However, the idea was not very successful and in 1811 Melli sold the plant to Alexei Gavrilovich Popov, a Moscow merchant of the first guild. A man of incredible diligence and hard work, an enthusiast of the porcelain business in Rus′, he apparently had excellent taste, which allowed him to win the sympathy of the public already in 1815. Personal taste and measure were indeed of decisive importance and distinguished the enterprise from other private initiatives of the 19th century. Soon the plant′s staff will increase to 250 people, which is quite comparable to the number of workers at the imperial porcelain factory. The range of products produced was varied. From household items, dishes of various denominations to porcelain sculptures and figurines. The quality of the products varied depending on the order level. One-of-a-kind designer items of amazing quality and captivating grace. Mass products are noticeably inferior in quality. Especially after the 1950s, the time of Alexei Gavrilovich’s death, when the plant passed into the hands of his heirs. The originality that Popov found was emasculated by the cheap quality of the products and the repeated repetition of what had been done. So, in the end, in 1875, the plant was closed. The forms and paint recipes went to the factories of the Kornilov brothers and the Ikonnikov enterprise.
The factory marks are interesting. Basically, the AP monogram was reproduced in blue or gold, underglaze or overglaze, but as a rule, both were done by hand, which is why there are no exact matrices and chronology of stamps. Each master, at his own discretion and taste, produced the treasured monogram. There are brands in the test such as: asterisk, letters D, O, N, B. A circle with an arrow similar to the modern designation of the male gender, and a symmetrical monogram in Orthodox script. In the late period, blue or black underglaze mark by POPOVA.