Cologne stoneware
Cologne stoneware is a type of ceramic product that was produced in Cologne in the late Middle Ages and early modern times . The Cologne workshops were a model for the production of Rhenish Renaissance stoneware in the pottery centers of the Rhineland .
history
In the middle of the 15th century, master potters from Cologne also began producing real stoneware. In contrast to the long-established stoners or Düppenbäcker who made vessels and tiles from earthenware , the stoneware potters in Cologne called themselves Kannenbäcker. At the beginning of the 16th century, handicrafts in the Free Imperial City made the transition from handicrafts to handicrafts and, in terms of shape and surface design, became decisive for the manufacture of Rhenish stoneware during the Renaissance . The role model function of the Cologne potters also had an impact on the pottery in the other Rhenish pottery centers in Siegburg , Frechen, Langerwehe and Raeren .
Although the Rhenish stoneware was also extremely popular with the citizens of Cologne, the stoneware pots themselves were unpopular with the population. The population feared the risk of fire from the kilns, which were often used for weeks to make stoneware. They also felt annoyed by the smell of chlorine caused by pouring on the salt glaze . Due to the high demand for firewood for the stoves, entire forests in the area around Cologne were cut down in the 16th century, which caused the price of wood to rise rapidly. The Cologne stoneware potters were also politically disadvantaged, as they had never succeeded in founding their own protective guild. According to the compulsory guild , they were affiliated to the non-specialist stonemasons' guild , in which, however, there were constant hegemonic disputes between the associated trades. In addition, the city council curtailed their work opportunities by only allowing the ovens to be operated with express permission from 1534 and preventing the import of clay from the Frechen deposits. In 1547 the council had all stoneware stoves demolished. The number of master potters was also severely limited. Whereas eleven potters were still listed in 1536, only four remained in 1554. To confirm this reduction, the council again demolished all kilns, except for the four approved, in 1555. From 1566 stoneware pots were no longer permitted within the Cologne city walls. The potters had migrated to the Frechen, Siegburg and Raeren pottery centers and, as workmen, brought new ideas to the design of local stoneware products.
However, even after its own stoneware pots were driven out, the metropolis of Cologne remained the most important trading point for Rhenish stoneware. The center of trade was the old market . The products from the neighboring pottery centers were also traded from Cologne to all of Europe. The main customers were the Kingdom of England and the Netherlands. The fact that the stoneware apparently came from Cologne for the end user meant that the entire spectrum of Rhenish stoneware was still undifferentiated as Cologne stoneware.
technology
For the first time in the middle of the 15th century, Cologne potters burned completely sintered stoneware that they provided with a salt glaze developed by them. Nevertheless, the early stoneware generally remained unglazed. The surface was often flamed, which makes it difficult to distinguish it from early Siegburg goods at first glance. However, by 1500 the glaze had prevailed.
The clay deposits west of Cologne, which the Cologne and later also the Frechen potters could fall back on, produced clays with a very high iron content that burned into yellow or red-brown shards. Due to the iron content, the surfaces of the vessels looked dirty brown. Thick sprues made of salt glazes made the surface look more harmonious, which gave the vessels a spotty or tortoiseshell-like appearance. In this it is indistinguishable from Frechen stoneware.
Around 1520 it was again potters from Cologne who were the first to experiment with cobalt blue glazes. The blue glaze on otherwise red-brown vessels did not meet the taste of the time and could not prevail at this point in time. It was not until 1584 at the time of the High Renaissance that Jan Emens Mennicken in Raeren and three years later Anno Knütgen in Siegburg took up this technique again and achieved success with it. Nevertheless, the Cologne potters laid the foundation stone for a technique that became known as Westerwald stoneware in the 17th century .
Signatures of potters or form cutters, as they are known from Siegburg or Raeren, are usually not found in Cologne stoneware. Also, Cologne vessels are rarely dated with an applied year.
Shape development
The first late Gothic stoneware vessels made in Cologne were mainly funnel neck beakers based on the Siegburg model and bulbous jugs. Initially, these vessels were equipped with a wave base. From around 1500, profiled, turned floor panels were preferred. At the end of the 15th century, the artistic design of the vessel surfaces began in the Cologne workshops. A fashion that spread from Cologne to all the pottery centers in the Rhineland.
In the beginning, simple round medallions were used, which were molded from coins or medals. Soon the applied decors became more elaborate and reached the level of a handicraft. Form models and matrices were specially made for the decors. Typical of Cologne stoneware of the early Renaissance are reliefs of branched tendril ornaments, mostly of rose tendrils, oak branches or the Old Testament root Jesse . Usually a central branch is shown, from which the tendrils branch off symmetrically on both sides. Coats of arms or depictions of animals are often placed over the floral tendrils. The decors of the early Renaissance already occupy large areas of the surface of the vessels in Cologne, while the workshops of the other Rhenish pottery centers at the beginning of the 16th century still largely managed without decor or use simple round reliefs and are still largely in the Gothic style.
In the first third of the sixteenth century the forms became more strictly and clearly outlined. From around 1520, the Gothic funnel neck cups were replaced by rapids and pints. These are also initially richly decorated with tendril motifs in the Renaissance style and coats of arms. Probably for the first time in the Eigelsteinwerkstatt, the straight cylindrical surfaces of the drinking vessels were soon divided into three fields and decorated with figurative representations. Allegorical and religious motifs after engravings by German and Dutch minor masters such as Virgil Solis or Heinrich Aldegrever were particularly popular here .
Form spectrum
The range of shapes of the Cologne workshops was rather sparse compared to the products of the pottery centers in Siegburg, Frechen, Langerwehe and Raeren. Bulbous jugs with a spherical body are characteristic of Cologne's stoneware pottery.
Bartmann mug
As Bartmannkrug pear-shaped drinking and serving jugs are called, which bear on the neck and shoulder vessel a single bearded male face mask. Starting from jugs with primitive incised facial contours from the 15th century, this special form of jugs was developed in Cologne from around 1500 and was found in almost all pottery centers in the Rhineland in the 16th century.
The Bartmann mug later became a typical product of the Frechen stoneware production, where it was still made into the 18th century.
workshops
According to the current state of research, four workshops are known for the urban area of Cologne, in which stoneware of art historical importance was produced. These are the workshop in Eigelstein , in Maximinenstrasse, in Streitzeuggasse and Hermann Wolter's pottery in Komödienstraße.
Maximinenstrasse workshop
As far as we know today, the pottery workshop on Maximinenstrasse was the largest of the Cologne stoneware pottery. It began production around 1500 with pear-shaped jugs and funnel neck mugs. The workshop, discovered during excavations in 1897, experienced its heyday between 1520 and 1540.
Some of the earliest Bartmann mugs come from this production facility. Typical features are tendril reliefs made of oak leaves and a surrounding frieze with a leaf garland wrapped around a rod around the center of the vessel. From around 1540, templates by Heinrich Aldegrever were mainly used for relief editions in this workshop. In addition, there are teardrop-shaped elevations that imitate silver vessels.
Hermann Wolters workshop
The pottery workshop of Hermann Wolters in the Komödiengasse produced from around 1550 until the expulsion of Cologne stoneware potters in 1566. Hermann Wolters is the only one of the Cologne master potters whose name has been passed down.
In addition to the contemporary mass-produced goods, Wolters also made Bartmann jugs, the belly of which is closely covered with grape nubs. Characteristic for this workshop are the noticeably small beard man supports on narrow vessel necks. The mounted metal lid gave this special form of the Bartmann mug the appearance of parade soldiers.
Eigelsteinwerkstatt
In the Eigelsteinwerkstatt, rapids with a three-part image field were produced for the first time. Relief editions based on motifs by Peter Flötner were particularly preferred .
A special form from the Eigelsteinwerkstatt are angular-looking pints and jugs.
Streithausgasse workshop
The workshop in Streithausgasse was discovered in 1951 and archaeologically examined. Unfortunately, the excavation results are still poorly presented in an essay by Franz Brill from 1969. In terms of decor, the products from this workshop appear to be similar to those from Wolters and those from Maximinenstrasse.
See also
Remarks
literature
- Otto von Falke : The Rhenish stoneware. 2 volumes. Berlin 1908.
- Karl Koetschau : Rhenish stoneware. Munich 1924.
- David RM Gaimster: German Stoneware, 1200-1900: Archeology and Cultural History. British Museum Press, London 1997.
- Karl Göbels: Rhenish pottery craft. Shown using the example of the Frechen jug, Düppen and pipe bakers. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1971.
- Gisela Reineking von Bock: stoneware. Decorative Arts Museum of the City of Cologne. Cologne 1986.
- Ingeborg Unger: Cologne and Frechen stoneware of the Renaissance. The holdings of the Cologne City Museum. Edited by Werner Schäfke. Publications of the Cologne City Museum Volume 8. 549 pages. Verlag Kölnisches Stadtmuseum , Cologne 2007. ISBN 978-3-940042-01-9
