Nathusius porcelain factory

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Two variants of the underglaze marks of the Nathusius porcelain

The porcelain factory Nathusius (also: Porcellan-Fabrik zu Althaldensleben ) existed from 1826 to 1847 and was part of the Nathusius industrial establishments in Althaldensleben . Along with the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) in Berlin, it was the most famous Prussian porcelain manufacturer of its time and founded the porcelain industry in Haldensleben .

Historic factory building, later partially rededicated for residential use

prehistory

With the acquisition of the secularized monastery property Althaldensleben by Johann Gottlob Nathusius in 1810, the history of the Nathusius industrial establishments began . In the following years Nathusius set up various commercial businesses and factories in Althaldensleben as well as in the neighboring Hundisburg . This included the operation of quarries, a pottery, a brick factory and a plaster production facility.

Earthenware was also produced from around 1813 . After 1810 a factory building was built in the immediate vicinity of the Althaldensleber monastery estate. In 1817 the stoneware factory already had 24 workers and in the mid-1820s Nathusius achieved good results with high-quality products. Now he wanted to expand the business area and decided to switch to the more complex porcelain production. Earthenware production was also reduced for humanitarian reasons, as the glazing of the earthenware was harmful to the health of the workers due to the addition of lead.

founding

After many attempts and initial difficulties, porcelain production began around 1827. After Nathusius got to know the French porcelain maker Defaussé, he hired him and Defaussé moved to Althaldensleben with his wife and child. A small French oven was built in the stoneware factory, and contracts for the supply of kaolin , so-called “china clay”, were concluded with farmers from the area around Halle .

KPM in Berlin has already procured from the same suppliers - a circumstance that led to a legal dispute. KPM asked the suppliers to deliver only to Berlin and pointed out that china clay could be used as shelves . The General Prussian Land Law opposed this and the government had to give in. The koalite was transported by water via the Saale and Elbe to Magdeburg and from there brought to Althaldensleben by horse and cart . Our own wood and wood bought from the surrounding forests were used as fuel.

In the former fulling mill , in which Neuhaldensleber cloth makers had their fabrics milled until the decline of industry, a required fireclay tamper was set up (the plant was demolished in 1840). A steam engine with eight horsepower was also purchased. In 1830 this or a subsequent machine was replaced by a horse- powered Göpelwerk .

In 1828, in addition to the 28 earthenware turner that was still available, 12 porcelain turner were employed. Most of these workers were trained workers from Magdeburg factories, especially probably from the Guischard faience and earthenware factory , some of them also came from southern Germany or were French from Huguenot colonies .

Crater vase from the Nathusius porcelain factory, from around 1840: View of Althaldensleben with clearly recognizable smoke development from the factory chimneys of the porcelain factory. The vase is owned by the Haldensleben Museum

Climax

The factory developed very successfully in the following years. The main sales areas were the eastern provinces of Prussia and Silesia . The buildings used had to be expanded continuously. Additional kilns were built, and a copper printing shop was set up (for printing the black decorations on the initially raw porcelain). So-called civil servants (senior staff) and workers' apartments were built, and as a whole, an entire building district was created in Althaldensleben. A porcelain painting studio was set up in which girls were also employed. In the mid-1830s, 200 to 300 people worked in the porcelain factory. The stoves were loaded with wood and the annual consumption was 3,000 fathoms . Contemporary descriptions report that the Bebertal was constantly darkened by the smoke it emitted.

Household dishes, but also luxury items such as painted vases, cups, busts and statuettes were produced in high quality. Finally, the production of pipe bowls was introduced, the lids and fittings of which were made in an additional workshop. These pipe bowls became a specialty of the factory and were produced and sold in large numbers.

A thick line and the Latin N were used as underglaze marks . Even the rare brands Latin N under the line and NPM are now ascribed to the Althaldensleber factory

The Nathusius factory developed into serious competition for KPM. Their director (from 1832 to 1848) Georg Frick complained when the 1837 annual accounts were handed over to the Prussian Ministry of Finance about the increasing spread of Althaldensleber products: ... the Nathusius'sche Porzellanfabrik in AHL ... here with their auctions in almost all places ... also the Royal Swedish personal physician and chemist Magnus von Pontin (1781–1858) noted in his notes on a visit to Althaldensleben that … the porcelain factory… next to the Berlin one, the most important in terms of the quantity and quality of the work… .

The writer and later wife of Philipp von Nathusius , Marie Nathusius geb. Scheele, on the occasion of her first visit to the Althaldensleber porcelain factory, described the manufacturing process in a novel-like manner:

“The porcelain vessels were painted in a narrow, elongated room, the windows of which let in the abundance of light. It was quiet there. The masters and journeymen busily painted and hardly looked up. Many strangers came to visit Haldensleben ... When the master noticed that the young lady was unusually interested in his work, he became more approachable and began to explain. He showed how to put the colors together on the test board in order to test their harmony. He laughed when Marie refused to believe that the peculiar mass in one of the pots was really gold, and explained that gold really only acquired its authenticity through fire. A little silver is mixed in, it gives it a soft sheen. A little glass flow is also part of it because it increases the shelf life. Finally, you have to diligently smooth and polish the applied gold so that it reveals all its beauty ... "

- Eva Hoffmann-Aleith : Paths to the Lindenhof

Friedrich Julius Otto worked as a chemist at the industrial establishment in Althaldensleben from autumn 1830 after completing his studies. Among other tasks, he was responsible for the manufacture of paint in the porcelain factory.

As part of the commercial establishments, the porcelain factory also drew many important visitors to Althaldensleben. Jakob Berzelius mentioned the local ... factory there for real porcelain, as well as another one for faiences or such products as Rörstrand makes, both in a larger format than the latter ...

Porcelain pipe stub around 1828, on the front a gold-framed erotic scene in the Louis-seize style , from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

Decline

The decline of the porcelain factory began with the entry into force of the German Customs Union in 1834. This was followed by increasingly fierce competition from porcelain manufacturers from Thuringia, which the Althaldensleber production was unable to cope with in the long term due to location disadvantages. On the one hand, there was no rail connection that would have made the delivery of the preliminary products and the sale of the products cheaper. In addition, there was no hard coal required to fire the stoves effectively.

However, the inheriting sons of Nathusius also had other interests. He had initially determined that his fifth son, Wilhelm von Nathusius , should take over the factory. The plan was adhered to after the father's death in 1835. The porcelain factory was initially run by the older brother Philipp. From the age of 14, Wilhelm was looked after with commercial tasks. He also received training from the French porcelain specialist Alexandre Brongniart and was sent to Paris and Berlin to study. When Philipp wanted to relinquish the management of the no longer profitable factory in 1847, Wilhelm decided not to continue it, but to devote himself to his agricultural and scientific interests. She was hired.

Good employees switched to the Buckauer Porzellan-Manufaktur (1833–1926) or set up their own companies. In 1851 the Nathusius' earthenware production was also given up. The buildings of the porcelain and earthenware manufacture that are no longer in use are still standing today.

meaning

The earthenware and porcelain industry was long an important branch of industry in Haldensleben, the cornerstone of which was the facilities of Johann Gottlob Nathusius on the former monastery property. From the lost earthenware and porcelain factory of Nathusius, nine industrial companies developed in Alt- and Neuhaldensleben by 1900. VEB Keramische Werke was formed in 1948 from three larger companies that existed in 1945 . Together with the porcelain sanitary ware factory built in 1978, this company played an important role in the GDR's economy. Today some of these companies have merged into the Haldensleber subsidiary of Keramag .

One of the most important Haldensleben companies in the 19th century was the Uffrecht & Co. pottery factory , which later traded as Carstens-Uffrecht . The company was founded in 1845 by Jakob Uffrecht in Hinzenbergstrasse. The young porcelain turner, Uffrecht, came to Althaldensleben on November 3, 1833 in search of work in the course of his craft wanderings. But there was no vacancy in the factory. Nevertheless, Uffrecht stayed in Althaldensleben for a while and during a conversation with workers at the factory they noticed his pipe with a hexagonal pipe bowl from Bavaria. The then managing director of the porcelain factory also took a liking to the model and considered producing it. In his memoirs, Uffrecht explained the further course of events:

“Meanwhile, a skilled lathe operator there said he could already make this model and now started with it. The next day the foreman brought me my pipe with the remark that N. would not succeed in the work and that I could now continue my journey. I wondered about that and said, without thinking anything, that it wasn't art at all, I dare to do it. Then the foreman: Wait a moment, I will inform the director of this. In short, the latter said I should make the model and if it was good I could stay here as a modeller ... Now I made the model and it was found to be good. But it was also such an easy job. Now I was suddenly a modeller in a large porcelain and earthenware factory and now that served me in the Ulm factory a. at H. Ed. Mauch and H. Redmann learned very well. For the next several years I only had to copy models from other factories. In Germany they had no idea about design protection. Everyone copied (i.e. stole) what they liked, especially from the French, and considered this to be quite permissible and honorable ... "

Uffrecht worked for 10 years (until October 1843) in the Nathusius factory and, after a brief follow-up job, founded his own company in a Magdeburg porcelain factory.

Even with the products of the Buckauer Porzellan Manufaktur , which initially produced simple and useful household goods and laundry equipment and only later began producing more sophisticated coffee and tea services as well as hotel and restaurant porcelain, the designs of the products of the Nathusius porcelain factory were also significantly influenced recognizable.

Museum pieces

Porcelain products from the Nathusius factory - not produced for 160 years - are coveted collector's items. They are auctioned at art auctions and exhibited in various museums: Nathusius porcelain was shown in the Museum of Sèvres as early as 1871 . The museum in Haldensleben has a small collection. There are also unique pieces in the Historical Museum for Mittelanhalt and the Bach Memorial in Köthen . The Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen Foundation owns a view cup of Schiller's house on the Esplanade from around 1830 made by Nathusius. At an exhibition of the Kulturhistorisches Museum in Magdeburg ( The soul would like to fly. Marie Nathusius (1817–1857). A woman's life between adaptation and departure ) from November 2007 to March 2008, various exhibits were shown.

gallery

  • View cup of Sans-Souci Palace in Potsdam, around 1830, from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

  • Cup with grisaille painting , around 1828, from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

  • Cup with monogram, around 1830, from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

  • Coffee and tea service (parts) "Octagonal elongated shape for 3 people" acc. Price list from around 1828, from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

  • Porcelain basket, around 1830, from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

  • Cake basket around 1842, in the mirror polychrome view of Wertheim after a lithograph by A. Schleich, from the private collection of Detlef Dauer

  • Cabaret, around 1837, from private ownership Detlef Dauer

  • Three-part bowl, diameter 36 cm, around 1830, from the private collection of Nikolaus von Nathusius

literature

  • Elsbeth of Nathusius: Johann Gottlob Nathusius. A pioneer in German industry . German publishing company, Stuttgart / Berlin 1915
  • Ulrich Hauer, The Nathusius porcelain and earthenware factory in Althaldensleben , from the series: Haldensleber Porzellangeschichte (s) , Part 1, KULTUR-Landschaft Haldensleben-Hundisburg eV (ed.), Haldensleben-Hundisburg 2012

Web links

Commons : Nathusius Porzellanfabrik  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b according to Arnulf Siebeneicker, Officianten und Ouvriers , Social History of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory and the Royal Healthware Manufactory in Berlin 1763–1880 (Diss.), ISBN 3-11-017158-9 , de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001 p. 52 .
  2. ↑ according to Ulrich Hauer , the Nathusius porcelain factory was the first private porcelain factory in Prussia, after Maritta Bulmann: Haldensleben was also a porcelain town . In Volksstimme.de from February 8, 2010.
  3. ↑ according to Old Princely Houses, Althaldensleben (key words). In: Meyers Konversationslexikon . Author collective, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, fourth edition, Leipzig and Vienna 1885–1892, p. 424.
  4. ↑ according to It started with earthenware. 175 years of the ceramic industry in Haldensleben (1st part), in: Volksstimme Haldensleben from January 21, 1989.
  5. ↑ the stoneware production was named Nathusius Steinguts-Fabrik , according to Table for an overview of the technical and economic operations in Althaldensleben and Hundisburg , in: Friedrich Benedict Weber , comments on various objects of agriculture. Collected on economic trips to Silesia, Saxony, Thuringia, on the Rhine and other German regions in the summers of 1814, 1815, 1816 and 1817 , Hartknoch, Leipzig 1819, Annex: Table A . Here, Mr. Bracker and Mr. Berger are also named as heads of the factory or “co-interested parties”
  6. ↑ according to Alexander von Lengerke (ed.), Landwirthschaftliches Conversations-Lexicon for practitioners and laypeople , first issue, sheets 1–10 of the first volume, JG Calve'sche Buchhandlung, Prague 1837, p.95
  7. ↑ a b c d Detlef Duration: Nathusius, Porzellan- u. Stoneware factory in Althaldensleben (1826–1847) on MyHeimat.de , accessed January 1, 2010
  8. ↑ Otto Dieskau : From Althaldensleben's Past , Part II, No. 8: Die Klostermühlen (pp. 3–10), Verlag von Simmerlein, Neuhaldensleben / Althaldensleben 1924
  9. ^ Arnulf Siebeneicker: Officianten and Ouvriers , Officianten and Ouvriers, Social History ... , ISBN 3-11-017158-9 , deGruyter, Berlin u. a. 2001, with a reference to Elsbeth von Nathusius, Johann Gottlob Nathusius ..., see LitVerz., P. 95, footnotes
  10. ↑ the faience and earthenware manufacture of Johann Philipp Guischard existed from 1756 to 1839, according to Matthias Puhle: The Magdeburg faience and earthenware manufacture of the Guischard family , Magdeburg 1995, (ed.), Quoted in: Arnulf Siebeneicker, Officianten und Ouvriers, Sozialgeschichte ... , ISBN 3-11-017158-9 , deGruyter, Berlin u. a. 2001, p. 26, footnotes
  11. ↑ corresponds to approx. 10,000 cubic meters
  12. ↑ The price list IV of the factory from 1828 divided the scope of delivery for pipe bowls into 6 categories: A) White pipes in three sizes, smooth for cigarettes, as a figure or girl, savings bowls with a fixed trigger and in Dutch shape. B) Painted pipes with green, blue and black decorations. C) Printed pipes with figures and landscapes, with gold rim, names. D) Pipes with enamel painting in all imaginable variants: The pipe heads are made in Berlin and Meissner shapes. Orders for painting based on drawings to be sent are also accepted. E) White and painted prints. F) Fittings, simple and gold-plated. , according to Price list of the porcelain factory in Althaldensleben 1928 , in the inventory of the Märkisches Museum in Berlin, from: Detlef Dauer
  13. ↑ Detlef duration: Porcelain tobacco pipes, Alt-Haldensleben (1826–1847) on MyHeimat.de , accessed January 7, 2010
  14. ↑ Detlef duration: Porzellanmarken, Nathusius Porzellanfabrik in Althaldensleben (1826–1847) on MyHeimat.de , accessed March 1, 2010
  15. ↑ Magnus von Pontin: Comments on nature, art and science on a trip via Berlin and the Harz Mountains to Hamburg . Meissner, Hamburg 1832, p. 135
  16. ^ Eva Hoffmann-Aleith: Paths to the Lindenhof , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Berlin, Berlin (GDR) 1967, p. 64
  17. ^ Friedrich Julius Otto (1809–1870) was an important pharmacist, chemist, technologist and health officer at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig , see also: R. Otto:  Otto, Friedrich Julius . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 747-751.
  18. ↑ Maren Nosseck et al. a .: The development of university pharmacy using the example of Braunschweig . (student elective thesis), Braunschweig 2009
  19. ^ Jacob Berzelius: The journey through the Harz in 1830 and to the natural scientist conference in Hamburg . In: Travel memories from Germany , chemistry (publisher), Weinheim 1948, p. 22 f
  20. ↑ Ulrich Hauer: The businessman Johann Gottlob Nathusius and his agricultural-industrial complex in Althaldensleben and Hundisburg , 2004 at Ecomusee.de (PDF; 22 kB)
  21. ↑ according to Hartmut Neumann, Gerhard Storaczek, Ulrich Hauer: The natural history-historical educational trail Althaldensleben-Hundisburg , youth club of the FDJ in the district museum Haldensleben (ed.), Haldensleben 1984
  22. ^ The Uffrecht family of manufacturers and artists on the website of Museum Haldensleben
  23. ↑ a b Irene Uffrecht-Peters: Jakob Uffrecht ( memento from February 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at Uffrecht.com
  24. ↑ porcelainmarksandmore.com ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Porcelain Marks & More (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.porcelainmarksandmore.com
  25. ↑ according to Museum is looking for porcelain ( Memento from July 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) from January 14, 2010
  26. ↑ teapot at Museum-digital.de
  27. ↑ A picture of the cup was shown in the annual report of the Klassikstiftung on p. 37 ( Memento of November 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; there p. 18)