after aluminia's acquisition of the royal copenhagen porcelain manufactury in 1882, its director, philip schou (1838-1922), was looking for someone who could revive the stagnating company artistically. in 1884 he asked the xylograher frederik hendriksen for advice on the matter and he proposed krog as a possible candidate for the job. krog was hired on a trial basis in october 1884 and was appointed to artistic director of the company on a permanent basis in january 1885.