Book Chapter

Promotion of high-quality textiles by prize competitions during the Enlightenment in Saxony. From raw material to finished product manufacturing

  • Seiji Horii

Preisaufgabe, or «prize competitions» were implemented in Saxony in 1764 to promote industry after the Seven Years’ War. We investigated the purpose of them and by whom, by analysing primary historical texts to uncover four criteria: (1) the best quality prototypes; (2) equivalent quality to foreign products; (3) establishment of training facilities, and (4) manufacture of new products. The competitions promoted high-quality products and disseminated knowledge. Numerous prototypes were submitted and prizes awarded. Most participants were already engaged in textile or related industries and the strategy relied on this intellectual foundation. Assessment of Saxony’s situation and enlightenment principles informed the competitions.

  • Keywords:
  • prize competitions (Preisaufgabe),
  • textual analysis,
  • knowledge diffusion,
  • textile industry,
  • enlightenment,
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Seiji Horii

Chuo Gakuin University, Japan

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  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Promotion of high-quality textiles by prize competitions during the Enlightenment in Saxony. From raw material to finished product manufacturing

Authors

Seiji Horii

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0092-9.07

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

L’economia della conoscenza: innovazione, produttività e crescita economica nei secoli XIII-XVIII / The knowledge economy: innovation, productivity and economic growth, 13th to 18th century

Editors

Giampiero Nigro

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

456

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0092-9

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0091-2

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0092-9

Series Title

Datini Studies in Economic History

Series ISSN

2975-1241

Series E-ISSN

2975-1195

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