Tin Collection Dr. Karl Ruhmann
The pewter collection Dr. Karl Ruhmann is a private tin collection in Austria . It is in 1988 in Trattenmühle opened museum of Dr. Ludwig Karl Ruhmann Foundation in Stocking near Wildon and is considered the largest private tin collection in Europe.
history
The pewter collection goes back to the collecting activity of the large industrialist family Ruhmann, who descended from a Moravian family of craftsmen and during the time of the technical upheaval in the Danube monarchy under Emperor Franz Josef I achieved prosperity through paper production and this became great Used part of the collection of glasses, paintings, furniture, clocks as well as porcelain, silver and tin artefacts. The family business Guggenbacher Maschinenpapier-Fabrik Adolf Ruhmann formed the financial basis for the collecting activity .
In 19 showcases and 11 wall presentations, the museum shows over 420 fine pewter exhibits, 344 of which are documented in the museum catalog. The rest of the information is provided in a card catalog that Karl Ruhmann systematically compiled from his youth, but the final evaluation is still pending.
Exhibits
Most of the exhibits in the collection date from the 15th to 18th centuries. It also contains some tin products from the High Middle Ages.
The collection contains various types of precious tin products for profane use; On view are mythologically inspired fine pewter works of art from ancient times such as the plate “Judgment of Paris” from Nuremberg from 1569. Temperantia plates, Musen plates, Fortuna bowls are also found in large numbers. Most of them date from the 16th century.
The collection also includes souvenir plates made on the occasion of imperial coronations. They were mostly produced in larger editions. In the Ruhmann Museum there is a showcase with around a dozen different motifs, such as the coronation plates of Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III. and a Gustaf Adolf plate. Further exhibits are a sultan plate from 1712, a Montgolfiere plate from 1786 and the sheriff star from the film "High-Noon" - the novel "The Tin Star" was the script for the script.
Another area of representation are the guilds. It shows guild pots, “Welcome” trophies, guild signs, guild mugs and cups from the guilds of tailors, weavers, linen weavers, shoemakers, butchers, bricklayers and locksmiths. Storage, drinking and eating vessels made of pewter are also exhibited in the museum, including large and small, punched, cast, chased, engraved, etched, punched and / or embossed drinking jugs and jugs, chain bottles, gingerbread models, spice jars, coffee jugs, sausage jars, Bottle coolers, candlesticks, Lichtenhaimer tankards, sugerli, imperial foot-washing cups since Charles VI. Exotic-looking exhibits include a “Choose from two vodka sources!” Fish from Russia from the time of Peter the Great or a gold-plated mug from the time of the Chinese Ming emperor Wanli .
Andorra Madonna and Child
The oldest datable exhibit in the collection is the "Andorra Madonna with Child", which dates from the 11th / 12th centuries. Century. On a wooden core there is a great representation of the Madonna with semi-precious stone applications in very fine pewter work; even parts of the original colors are still preserved. From this time there is only comparable tin work in the Pyrenees.
In the showcase of the Madonna there are other sacred exhibits such as pilgrimage signs and amulets. From the 12./13. For example, four crusader figurines approx. 3 cm in size date from the 19th century, which were attached to a container under the urn when the reliquary of Saint Euphemia was transferred from Aquileia to Ravenna.
Furthermore, a cross from the 15th century and a baptismal font with an angel's head from France from around 1600 are on display here. A jug from Burgundy, a wooden box with pewter inserts from the Lake Constance area and a plate with a crucifixion motif date from around the year 1420.
Mug by Friedrich von der Trenck
The exhibits also include a mug designed by Friedrich von der Trenck . While in Prussian imprisonment, he managed to cover his hands and feet with iron and fix them with a pointed nail in his pewter drinking cup to scratch pictures and texts in all languages he was familiar with, such as Latin, French or German. It is estimated that he created 36 such works of art, which his guards sent to the addressees named by Trenck for a tip and some of them also sold to wealthy interested parties. In Ruhmann's time (1897–1972), eleven such mugs were known to exist in Berlin, Paris, Geneva, etc. One of them is his Trenck mug, which is on display in Wildon. According to the latest research by Heiko Günther for his new book on "Trenck-Becher", 22 copies have been preserved in various collections.
swell
- Katharina Ruhmann, "Edel-Zinn", museum catalog of the Dr. Karl Ruhmann tin collection, Wildon 1988
- Katharina Ruhmann, “The joy of pewter from the Dr. Karl Ruhmann ”, Wildon January 1991
- Dr.Elmar Sartorius v Schneider, "Only the tin collection survived ... the rise, persecution and extinction of the big industrial family Ruhmann", part 1, Vienna issue 2/2010, pages 14-18, from the Austrian Castle Association.
- Dr.Elmar Sartorius v Schneider, "Only the tin collection survived ... the rise, persecution and extinction of the big industrial family Ruhmann", part 2, Vienna issue 1/2011, pages 27-29, from the Austrian Castle Association.