beginning of a new accounting period: the number change could take place in 1812, 1821, 
1828, 1840 and 1853. Because the number of staff at the Viennese Factory was continually 
being reduced during the 19th Century, only the lower numbers could be filled and many of the 
higher numbers remained empty. This tightening at the relevant times was, therefore, purely 
economic. 
While we regard the painter numbers, the „Bossierer” (moulder) letters etc. today primarily 
as a means of identifying particular artists, their original function was a more practical one - to 
aid supervision: assessment of a painter’s, moulder’s or turner’s achievement, the quality of 
his work; and at the same time, they were Symbols which corresponded to those in the 
payment lists. Only the foremen painters („Obermaler”) were excluded from the numbering 
System. They and particularly qualified painters and moulders or modellers signed sometime 
their full names. 
The following personnel groups were represented in the wage lists by number or letter: „Bunt 
maler” (colour painter), „Blaumaler” (blue painter), „Bossierer” (moulder), „Weißdreher” 
(white wäre turner), „Kapseldreher” (saggar turner), „Goldpolierer” (gold polisher) and 
„Steinschneider” (stone cutter). The first four groups are of interest for the collector of 
Viennese porcelain. I have included the saggar turner in my list merely for completeness' 
sake. From 1840 on, the gold polishers were represented by the numbers 1 to 9 and, hardly 
more than a curiosity, the stone cutters by the numbers 1 and 2. 
Frequently, there was a personnel Charge from one group to another: the blue painters chan- 
ged to the colour painter group quite often, seldom was the reverse the case. One can detect a 
fluctuation between the „Weißdreher” and saggar turners, and also between the „Weiß 
dreher” and the „Bossierer” (moulders). Thus it happened that a single painter came to hold 
both a blue painter number and a colour painter number, a „Weißdreher” also a saggar turner 
number etc. 
COLOUR PAINTER NUMBERS („BUNTMALERNUMMERN”) 
The colour painter numbers ränge from nr. 1 to nr. 155 and were painted in colour or in gold on 
the glaze. Most of the numbers, especially the lower ones up to nr. 60, were held repeatedly. 
All those painters who painted in overglaze-colour belonged to the group of the colour pain 
ters: thefigure (history) painters, flower painters, landscape painters, design painters. Thus 
the painter numbers appear for the most part (on the reverse of the article) in the colour that 
was used for the painting or decoration. 
Two documents containing colour painter numbers date from the 18th Century: from 1783 and 
1787. The wage lists give a fairly complete overview from the end of 1811 tili 1864. Supple- 
mentary to these are the personnel Status of 1829 and an alphabetical register of names from 
the 19th Century which, if they are not complete, at least offer the possibility of checking some 
items. 
Unfortunately, our knowledge of the 18th Century remains in this respect rather fragmentary. 
We can often reconstruct an artist’s period of Service (wage lists from the years 1762 to 1766 
and 1771/72 are extant) but we are not able toascertain whetherthe artist held the number or 
letter recorded for him in 1783 at an earlier date as well. Be that as it may, one should note that 
a porcelain object can bear several painter numbers which - especially under Sorgenthal - 
was the result of a strict division of labour. For example, there is a plate with figural painting 
and reliefgold decoration which bears the number of the figure painter and that of the design 
painter. Because the painter numbers were painted over glaze, they were easily prone to 
disfigurement and could be easily rubbed off; thus the absence of a painter number does not 
permit one to conclude that the porcelain is a fake. 
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