These traditions of Russian decorative porcelain can be seen in the work of a group of women artists, who after graduating from the Leningrad College for Applied Arts "V.I. Mukhina", joined the porcelain factory during the 1950s. This adherence to tradition is also evident in the entire work of the masters of applied arts Anna Leporskaya and Vladimir Gorodetski.

Leporskaya had been a pupil of Malevich and Petrov-Vodkin and later of Suyetin. In her more than 30 years of work with enamel she created countless new models for vases, services, sets and individual items of decorative porcelain or flatware, which in their variety represent the very personal signature of a talented artist, and her feel for the character of the material. Leporkaya's porcelain is intentionally laconic and lucid, the proportions of the shapes are flawless, the contours so expressive, that even a white, undecorated piece is a work of art. As, for instance, the sculptural form of the service "Drops" or the austerely elegant "Leningrad" service, every item of which is so well conceived for its purpose. This coffee and desert service was awarded the Grand Prix at the International Ceramics Exhibition in Prague in the early 1960s. The combination of modern shapes with historic traditions, so typical for Leporskaya, found its expression in the ceremonial service "Russia", dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. In this, she linked the theme of the Soviet state system, begun by Chekhonin, with traditional folklore motifs.

During the exhibition of her works in the Leningrad section of the Artists Union in 1978 which was a kind of retrospective over 50 years of her work as a painter, graphic artist, interior and porcelain designer, Anna Leporskaya formulated her thoughts to the author of this publication as follows: "Work on form is not only work on volume in space. It is also work in two dimensions: painting. Petrov-Vodkin used to say to us, his pupils: 'if you apply a small hook, a little stick to your canvas, this is already work on form. In establishing proportion, you can place an object a little bit higher or a little bit lower...it depends on this apparently unimportant "little bit" - a Suyetin definition - whether your work will prove to be magnificent or totally useless. When it comes to enamel the perception and realization of these laws mean more than in any other medium. The whiteness of the material, its dullness and the shrinkage of the items, all place forms in a different light.' At first I did not understand the question of shrinkage, only later when I put things in the kiln and then impatiently waited for them after firing, only then did I begin to understand this law of the fire. The porcelain must go through fire and not 'melt', before it becomes firm, hard and ringing - thus forever. This provoked my interest and my passion for porcelain even more. I consider work on its form as exceptional, interesting and varied, because it represents the problems of the small architecture of a great art."

Vladimir Gorodetski joined the porcelain factory in 1947. Together with the oldest porcelain painter, Bolshakov, and the modellers Risnich and Bystrov, he revived the technique of underglaze painting that had fallen into limbo. In the shaping of his vases, Gorodetski may be said to have synthesized the traits of classical architecture in St. Petersburg and the sources of folklore art in the figure of his mythical bird and in the decoration of his pieces. He mainly used cobalt blue from the narrow range of under glaze colors, varying its shades in order to achieve his "Suite in Shades of blue". This artist experimented a great deal, especially in his latter years, always opening up new technical possibilities. His unexpected death put a premature end to his flourishing creativity.

It is impossible to imagine life today without the ceramic art of two RSFSR artists, the holder of the Repin Prize Anna Leporskaya and Vladimir Gorodetski, who had been elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. Their works have found their way into the collections of the largest museums and porcelain modelled on their pieces was produced in large quantities for Soviet citizens.

In 1955 the factory began a programme of reconstruction and modernization of production under the direction of the young, energetic graduate of the Leningrad Institute of Mining, A. Sokolov. He had been appointed director of the factory and was to occupy this post for some 20 years. Along with the modernization of the factory, went a transformation of its profile. The manufacture of technical porcelain and of quartz glass products was transferred to newer or more specialized factories. Although the Leningrad porcelain factory continued to be regarded as the centre of the art of decorative enamel it was nevertheless integrated into the centralized system of production. Within the rigid framework of the Soviet economy it had to comply with five-year plans and strict adherence to the maxims and programmes announced from the platforms of party conferences. The main task at the time was to increase productivity. Any increase in production, however, should on no account diminish the artistic level of decorative enamel being produced in small editions, almost exclusively by hand.

It was possible to increase production almost twofold by 1970 by a combination of the following: mechanizing the technical process, by introducing semi-automated methods of casting and turning with German and English equipment; by exchanging the old kilns for continuous tunnel kilns and by using more mechanized methods of decoration with only the finish done by hand (which achieved magnificent patterns in both under glaze and enamel); and by installing the electric four-channel kiln for soft-paste enamel built by the factory's own specialists. For the first time an industrial enterprise seemed to have met the apparently irreconcilable claims of producing both "art" and "mass market" porcelain.

In the late 1960s, after many years of specialized research, the Lomonosov factory began with the production of small cups of bone china. They not only differed from the usual hard paste porcelain in their elegance, lightness and transparency, but also in the softer color of the paste, the fineness of the glaze, and in the impression of airiness which was akin to the famous old Chinese "egg-shell" porcelain. Furthermore, when lightly tapped, it answered with an agreeable, melodious sound.

Bone china, the paste of which contains calcium phosphate (animal bone ash), which lends whiteness and quality to the material, was first made by the Englishman Thomas Fray in 1749. The Wedgwood ceramics works produced such items and for many years remained the only supplier in the world. Small wonder that they were not eager to publicize their production methods. English bone china, however, was a bit thick and did not produce a desirable light sound.

The production of bone china required changes in the entire production technology, from the preparation of the liquid paste for casting through to the firing process. Apart from clay, kaolin, feldspar and quartz, pre-fired bonemeal was added, thus producing a snow-white paste. In order to preserve intact the thin and fragile shape, the firing was done in the same way as for stoneware: at first at a high temperature and then, after glazing, at 100 degrees less. The glazing of this porcelain was done by means of a spray, applying a very thin layer of glaze; as Vinogradov noted in his records, porcelain glaze should never be thicker than two sheets of paper.

The characteristics of this new material were greatly appreciated by such leading modellers as Eduard Krimmer, Anna Leporskaya and Vladimir Semyonov. The new cup and service shapes they created emphasized the thinness, transparency and whiteness of the enamel while keeping classical proportions and clear, pure contours. Later on, Tatiana Linchevskaya, Nina Slavina and E. Yeropkina were also to work with bone china. The new material and its technical possibilities opened up ever-greater scope for creativity. The ceremonial set "White Flower", resembling fully opened white campanulas with its emphatically swept edges, designed by Slavina, is evidence of this. This work, together with other work by Slavina, was decorated with the silver medal of the Academy of Arts of the USSR and is now in the collection of the Museum of Russian Applied Arts and in the factory museum. The decoration by Alexei Vorobyevski, Tamara Bespalova-Mikhalyova, Mikhail Mokh and Inna Olevskaya lent these pieces of bone china an air of costly elegance.

Their works immediately achieved the level of collectors' items, and came to secure a firm place as presents to be given at the highest level.

The main aim remained, however, to ensure that bone china would also become items of mass consumption and production. To this end a new production unit was set up at the Leningrad factory exclusively for bone china. All the installations for this, including the technical innovations, were developed within the factory itself. Later on, the production of bone china based on the Leningrad process was extended, with the help of the factory, to Lithuania and the Bulgarian city of Vidin.

In 1980 a group of employees was awarded the USSR State Prize for Science and Technology for its part in organizing the production of thin-shelled bone china objects. Among these was the head of research Alexander Sokolov, the chief engineer and present president of the factory Sinaida Meteliza, the manager of the new production unit Larissa Velikotnaya, the technologists Teresa Tarayeva and Valentina Alexeyeva, the casters Antonia Lebedeva and Vera Shalnova, and the porcelain painter Nina Guseva who had designed some 50 decorations for mass and serial production.

The difference between the former Imperial Porcelain Factory and other European factories was that it alone had remained a vital, developing organism with close links to contemporary art. The Russian Exhibition of Products of Applied Art, where samples from mass production, limited series and individual items were shown, confirmed the leading rank of the Leningrad porcelain factory in the development of modern ceramic art and the high artistic level attained in its large serial production.