1872, dated and signed dish with bevelled rim (“Rösti dish”) made by Christian Matthys in Heimberg. “Christen Matthiβ, potter in Heimberg on Donhalten [in der Dornhalde] – Contentment is my joy, everything else I leave be”.

Roland Blaettler, Andreas Heege 2025

The potter Christian Matthys (1813–1878, Matthys family tree) from Kirchdorf BE rented a workshop on Dornhalde in Heimberg (Buchs 1988, 106). His son Gottfried (1841–1893) worked at his side until 1870. From 1870 to 1879 he had his own workshop at 168 Alte Bernstrasse  in Steffisburg.

There are two known signed dishes made by Christian Matthys, both bearing the date 1872. One is in the collection of the Blumenstein Museum in Solothurn (MBS 1920.140).

“Christen Matthiβ, master potter in Heimberg on Donhalte  [in der Dornhalde] 1872” (MKB VI-3919).

The other came to light at the Museum of Cultures in Basel (MKB VI-3919, Hoffmann-Krayer 1914, Pl. II, Fig. 11; Messerli Bolliger 1991, Pl. 14, Fig. 26). The Basel piece differs from the one in Solothurn, with regard to both its shape and its colouring (light-coloured coat of slip), but bears a similar inscription surrounded by a frame in the shape of a shield. The surrounding floral wreath is painted in blue and is reminiscent of the runny blue slip-trailed decorations that some researchers have incorrectly attributed exclusively to the potter David Andres in Heimberg (e.g. MWH H 362, AF 22-030-00;  cf. Heege/Kistler 2017a, 473 Fig. 1, SMT 649).

Translation Sandy Haemmerle

 References:

Blaettler/Schnyder 2014
Roland Blaettler/Rudolf Schnyder, CERAMICA CH II: Solothurn (Nationales Inventar der Keramik in den öffentlichen Sammlungen der Schweiz, 1500-1950), Sulgen 2014, 62–63.

Buchs 1988
Hermann Buchs, Vom Heimberger Geschirr zur Thuner Majolika. Thun 1988.

Heege/Kistler 2017a
Andreas Heege/Andreas Kistler, Poteries décorées de Suisse alémanique, 17e-19e siècles – Collections du Musée Ariana, Genève – Keramik der Deutschschweiz, 17.-19. Jahrhundert – Die Sammlung des Musée Ariana, Genf. Mailand 2017.

Hoffmann-Krayer 1914
Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer, Heimberger Keramik. Schweizer Archiv für Volkskunde 18, 1914, 94–100.

Messerli Bolliger 1991
Barbara E. Messerli Bolliger, Der dekorative Entwurf in der Schweizer Keramik im 19. Jahrhundert. Zwei Beispiele: Das Töpfereigebiet Heimberg-Steffisburg-Thun und die Tonwarenfabrik Ziegler in Schaffhausen. Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz, Mitteilungsblatt 106, 1991, 7–100.