Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the founder of classical archaeology, had a strong and lasting impact on the architecture of German Classicism.
The architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and the sculptors Johann Gottfried Schadow and Christian Daniel Rauch were also important advocates of the new style. The three artists created porcelain for KPM, which set standards in terms of their clarity and strictness of form.

Porcelain figurines were primarily produced in biscuit porcelain (unglazed, fired twice) so as to resemble marble as much as possible. The loveliest example is J.G. Schadow's 1795 sculpture of Princesses Luise and Friederike von Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
 
A large table service in the classicistic style was created for Peter Biron, Duke of Kurland, in 1790.

The bourgeoisie gained strength as a result of progressive political reforms following the Wars of Liberation (1813-15) against Napoleon I. Bourgeois salons (Rahel Varnhagen, Henriette Herz) gathered together the nobility, artists and citizens for the shared objective of intellectual exchange. Tea or coffee was served in ornamental cups, the decorations of which were designed with each individual guest in mind.