DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56128#0011
INTRODUCTION.
he collection of the late Baron Albert von Oppenheim
(born in Cologne, November 13th. 1834, died June
23rd, 1912) contains a rieh series of rare and valuable
stained glass and sculptures. The old established
renown and universally acknowledged importance of
the collection is however based chiefly upon the wonderful
examples of ceramic art, among which the superb specimens
of Rhenish stoneware art are pre-eminent. More than half a
Century has passed, since the time when Baron Albert von
Oppenheim began the building up of his celebrated ceramic
collection, upon which he bestowed, next to his gallery of
paintings, his main interest and his greatest zeal in collecting.
The first third of the nineteenth Century saw a revival of
the appreciation of the quaint-stoneware jugs from the Renaissance
period, which had been forgotten for a long time. The first
collectors of Siegburg, Raeren and Westerwald-ware, were
lovers of art in the Netherlands, where in old times most of
the products of the Rhenish potteries were sold and where
numerous and excellent examples were still to be found. One
of the first notable collections of Renish stoneware, originates
from this time, viz: the collection of Joan d'Huyvetter, which,
published as early as 1829 in reproductions, was afterwards
sold and was destined to form the nucleus of the very re-
markable collections in the Museum of Brussels, and in that of
South Kensington. This collection was followed by those of
Weckherlin in the Hague, Renesse and Ch. Minard van Horebeke
in Ghent, which have been dispersed later by important sales.
More than one remarkable object from these collections passed
into that of Baron von Oppenheim.
In those early days of collecting little or nothing was known
about the real origin of pottery or the master potters to whose
skill the Renaissance jugs were due. The potteries of Siegburg,
Cologne, Frechen and Raeren had long ceased to exist, and the
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he collection of the late Baron Albert von Oppenheim
(born in Cologne, November 13th. 1834, died June
23rd, 1912) contains a rieh series of rare and valuable
stained glass and sculptures. The old established
renown and universally acknowledged importance of
the collection is however based chiefly upon the wonderful
examples of ceramic art, among which the superb specimens
of Rhenish stoneware art are pre-eminent. More than half a
Century has passed, since the time when Baron Albert von
Oppenheim began the building up of his celebrated ceramic
collection, upon which he bestowed, next to his gallery of
paintings, his main interest and his greatest zeal in collecting.
The first third of the nineteenth Century saw a revival of
the appreciation of the quaint-stoneware jugs from the Renaissance
period, which had been forgotten for a long time. The first
collectors of Siegburg, Raeren and Westerwald-ware, were
lovers of art in the Netherlands, where in old times most of
the products of the Rhenish potteries were sold and where
numerous and excellent examples were still to be found. One
of the first notable collections of Renish stoneware, originates
from this time, viz: the collection of Joan d'Huyvetter, which,
published as early as 1829 in reproductions, was afterwards
sold and was destined to form the nucleus of the very re-
markable collections in the Museum of Brussels, and in that of
South Kensington. This collection was followed by those of
Weckherlin in the Hague, Renesse and Ch. Minard van Horebeke
in Ghent, which have been dispersed later by important sales.
More than one remarkable object from these collections passed
into that of Baron von Oppenheim.
In those early days of collecting little or nothing was known
about the real origin of pottery or the master potters to whose
skill the Renaissance jugs were due. The potteries of Siegburg,
Cologne, Frechen and Raeren had long ceased to exist, and the
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