As well as items from the Imperial Porcelain Factory and Western European factories, the stocks of the Museum of Porcelain also include products of private Russian enterprises. The earliest of these to successfully establish the production of porcelain for sale was the works founded in 1766 by the English merchant Francis Gardner in the village of Verbilki, Dmitrovsky district, Moscow province. The superb quality of Gardner porcelain enabled it to compete with the expensive products of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. In the 1770s and 1780s the factory produced the four famous Order Services to a commission from Empress Catherine II. These superb dining-services decorated with the badges and colours of leading Russian orders - the Order of St Andrew the First-Called, the Order of St George the Victorious, the Order of St Alexander Nevsky and the Order of St Vladimir - were used during the formal receptions given for the holders of the respective honours. Apart from tableware, the factory produced considerable quantities of porcelain plastic art. Best known was the series of figurines based on images of St Petersburg types published in the monthly Volshebny fonar (Magic Lantern) in 1817-18. For many years the Gardner factory retained its reputation as a manufacturer of the highest quality and sold its products abroad as well as on the domestic market. In 1892 the factory was sold to Matvei Kuznetsov and became part of the company bearing his name.
The first third of the 19th century saw the flourishing of the private porcelain factory in St Petersburg belonging to the merchant Philip Batenin (1811-1838). In 1829, at the first industrial exhibition held in the Russian capital, products from this factory were awarded the large gold medal. Batenin porcelain was Classical in form and decorated with painting, the favourite motifs of which were bouquets of flowers and landscapes, as well as views of St Petersburg and its environs. A distinguishing feature of this porcelain was also its abundant gilding that sadly was not of a very hard-wearing composition. In 1838, following a fire that destroyed the Batenin factory, its position as leader of private porcelain manufacture in St Petersburg was taken by the factory of the Kornilov brothers (1835-1917). In 1848 the business was granted the status of Supplier to the Court of His Imperial Majesty with the right to stamp its products with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire.
In 1804, at Gorbunovo, another village in Dmitrovsky district, Moscow province, a porcelain factory was founded that in 1811 came into the hands of the Moscow merchant Alexei Popov. The products of this factory, created in the best traditions of European porcelain, occupy an honourable place in the history of Russian ceramics and at the same time have their own unique features - a bright and broad palette of colours, careful treatment of the details and a special composition of the porcelain paste. Among the best items made in the Popov factory are dishes and vases in which a coloured coating is combined with gold ornament and rich polychrome painting, and also the services with relief decoration and miniature sculptures. After the death of the owner, technical and artistic standards declined, and in 1875 the factory closed.
Visitors to the Museum of Porcelain display can also view individual examples of items produced by the factories in the village of Gzhel outside Moscow that has long been famous for its clays and its traditional ceramic industry. In the first quarter of the 19th century this area became a major centre of Russian porcelain production. The local enterprises imitated the products of the leading Gardner and Popov factories, but the quality of their output varied. The Gzhel items were united by an astonishing originality determined by their affinity to folk art. The distinctive artistic idiom manifested itself above all in the sculpture that became known as "Gzhel lubok" by analogy with the lubok popular woodcut print.
