The Volkstedt Porcelain Manufactory, based in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, was the earliest porcelain manufactory in Thuringia. It was the Aelteste Volkstedter Porzellanmanufaktur, "Oldest Porcelain Manufactory Volkstedt".
The factory was founded by an official request made on September 8, 1760 by the porcelain master Georg Heinrich Machelid (1723-1801). He worked for a long time in a glass manufactory in Gluxthal and acquired the secret of making porcelain by his own research, apparently independent of Ehrenfried Walter von Chirnhaus and Johann Friedrich Böttger, the ceramists in Meissen. He wanted to open a privileged porcelain factory, producing real hard porcelain, intended to be located in Sitzendorf. In 1762, the privilege was granted by Johann Friedrich, Fürst von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the great patron of art and music, specifying that the manufactory was to be established near his princely court Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt under his personal leadership. Volkstedt has built a reputation for its beautifully painted and meticulously modeled porcelain figures, which it presents to collectors today. In 1797, Ernest Constantine, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal, acquired a porcelain manufactory in Volkstedt, which he sold two years later. After the reunification of Germany in 2006/07, the factory buildings were restored to their 18th century appearance and opened to the public. During the 19th century, the manufactory attracted subsidiary and rival workshops in Rudolstadt: these were Beyer & Bock, Karl Ens, Kämmer & Kramer, Ernst Bohne Söhne, Műller & Hammer.
Underglaze blue insignia include the ubiquitous crowned N, adopted from Capodimonte by many manufactories, the closed crown, and the R (Rudostadt) with crossed swords (adopted from Meissen) in 1762.