Seuter Workshop

The Seuter workshop was located in Augsburg, a city in southern Germany that had been an important center of printing, textile-making, metal-smithing and glass-making since the 16th century. Four Seuter brothers worked in the family studio: Bartholomäus (1678-1754), Johann Paulus (1680-1735), Johannes (1686-1719) and Abraham (1689-1747). All of the brothers were skilled goldsmiths and Bartholomäus at least was also a painter, engraver and silk dyer. In the early years of Meissen, the factory may have commissioned the Seuter brothers to add gilt decoration to its wares. Soon, however, the Seuters began obtaining undecorated wares from the factory to gild and sell on their own. Although a few signed pieces by Abraham Seuter are known, most Seuter-decorated porcelains can only be ascribed to the workshop and not to the hand of any specific brother.