Johann Jakob Keller (ore caster)

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Jean-Jacques Keller (1635-1700) orfèvre et fondeur.jpg
Signature of Johann Jakob Keller on a cannon from 1683: Kelleri Tiguro (refers to Tiguriner ; own name of noble Zurich families).

Johann Jakob Keller vom Steinbock (born December 17, 1635 in Zurich , † 1700 in Colmar ) was a Swiss goldsmith and ore caster .

From one of the oldest Zurich patrician families , the Staufer coming cellar of Capricorn, also called the key or basement of Schwamendingen (elevation to knighthood in the ninth century, the second patent of nobility "of Capricorn" 1487), he was in Zurich, the son of Johann Balthasar Keller vom Steinbock (1603–1657) and Verena Wetzel (1617–1679) were born. Together with his brother Johann Balthasar Keller (1638–1702), whom he met again in France in 1660, he is rightly regarded as one of the best caster from France's "Grand Siècle" (the rule of Louis XIV ).

Basement cannons at the Invalides .

After an apprenticeship as a goldsmith , he came to France at the suggestion of Jean Baptist Colbert and set up foundries in Besançon , Breisach and Pignerol . His endeavors made a significant contribution to the modernization of the royal artillery. Keller revolutionized the French technique of cannon casting by replacing the drilling of the cast gun with the casting with a resistant core made of plaster of paris. Appointed to head the foundries in Douai in 1669 , he lost the ministry's favor after one of his cannons exploded in 1694. His post was handed over to his brother Johann Balthasar Keller. Johann Jakob Keller now concentrated on bronze casting; the four famous statues that were cast by the Keller brothers between 1684 and 1686 were intended for the facade of the Palace of Versailles .

The Keller brothers, who supplied hundreds of cannons in the course of their careers, had a decisive influence on the development of artillery in France.

literature

  • Arthur Norris Kennard: Gunfounding and Gunfounders - a directory of cannon founders from earliest times to 1850 , Arms and Armor Press, 1986

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Keller, Johann Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steinbock cellar, Johann Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss goldsmith and cannon founder
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1635
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH 1700
Place of death Colmar