“Langnau type 2” pottery in CERAMICA CH
The original paper with all images
Andreas Heege, Alfred Spycher, Andreas Liesch, 2019
The Bern and Biel School of Visual Arts and Design has in its collection a rather unusual tureen dating from 1810 (SfGB 174). It has an old inventory number, 174, which shows that it originally belonged to the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts in Bern; this means that it has probably been in a museum context from as early as the end of the 19th century. It is a tureen with a “Reifrand” rim, a low footring and horizontal lug handles and bears incised, chattered and slip-trailed decoration commonly found on pottery from Langnau (TE 2b, on Langnau see Heege/Kistler 2017; the DVD in the book contains an early version of this paper). Upon closer inspection, however, some of the elements point to a different place of manufacture. This includes the shape and decoration of the lug handles, which have no direct parallels among Langnau pieces. The unusual handle on the lid in the shape of a “roaring lion” (or howling wolf/dog?) and the oddly shaped and unusually placed fruit and flower are another peculiar element, as is the fact that the motto and date are incised on a guiding line. The motto reads “Jesus in your heart, your beloved on your arm – one makes you happy, the other keeps you warm – 1810” and while the handwriting has no parallels from any of the Langnau workshops, the motto itself was quite popular throughout the area. These particular types of floral rosette arranged on small straight or curved branches with leaves are also otherwise unknown. The inside of the lid and the bottom of the base bear an incised pairing mark; although unusual in type (a letter or number?), it nevertheless signals familiarity with the system used in Langnau.
A search for similar pieces which would allow us to classify and assess this unusual tureen proved successful and eventually led to the formation of a pottery group called “Langnau type 2”, to which 16 individual vessels have so far been added (see the list at the end of this article). With the exception of a shaving basin dated 1815 and a plate dated 1817, all are boxes or lidded containers.
Two are dated 1809 and 1818 respectively so that we can assume for now that this type of pottery was produced between c. 1809 and 1820. There are no typological or stylistic considerations that would challenge this assumption. The group label “Langnau type 2 pottery” is to be seen as a “working or auxiliary term” for the time being.
The 1815 shaving basin (BHM 6190) may offer a clue as to the provenance of these pieces. The unusual basin originally had a suspension loop at the back. It eventually snapped off and at that stage the rim of the vessel was perforated in the hollow receptacle for the soap. The well of the basin has an inscription that reads “Christen Hofer, school master in Sängelen, 1815”. The lip bears the motto “shave me well so that I may look nice for my beloved, he who shaves his own beard is worthy of praise”. Another motto can be found on the back of the vessel: “A good task well done brings the greatest joy on earth, 1815”. Today, the placename “Sängeli” refers to a group of houses north-west of the hill between Schüpbach and Signau, some 5 km from Langnau. In 1795, Christen Hofer (1749–?) built a classroom on his own land for the municipality of Schüpbach at his own expense. On the first Swiss school census report of 1799 he indicated that he had already served as a teacher for 22 years, besides managing a small estate and creating wood carvings (Schmidt, H.R. / Messerli, A. / Osterwalder, F. / Tröhler, D. (eds.), Die Stapfer-Enquête. Edition der helvetischen Schulumfrage von 1799, online database, Bern 2015, no. 714: Schüpbach. Could it be that he was presented with the shaving basin on the 20th anniversary of his school? There is every possibility that an unknown potter who worked nearby and was familiar with the Langnau pottery-making tradition was commissioned to make the piece. The first potter to be registered in Signau or Schüpbach in 1835 (StAB B XIII 480) was Christen Herrmann (1793–1851). When the shaving basin was made in 1815, however, he was probably still working for his father, Ulrich Herrmann (1758–13th February 1815; KRL 32, 131) in his workshop at 24 Wiederbergstrasse in Langnau. Given that Christen worked as a potter until 1851, it would be difficult to explain why there were no further dated pieces with this style of handwriting after 1818. Is it possible that they were made by Christen’s older brother Johannes (1791–1824)? Like Christen, Johannes left Langnau and moved to Wasen in the Emmental valley after the sale of the workshop at 24 Wiederbergstrasse in late 1816/early 1817 to work for his cousin, Johannes Herrmann (1786–1838). He died in 1824. There is no way of answering this question at the moment.
A plate dated 1817 (MKB VI-1436) clearly bears the same handwriting and style. The motto on the lip reads: “A good conscience and a free spirit are better than an emperor’s riches. A pious heart that trusts in God and looks with joy up to the sky, no thread is too fine to be revealed by the sun.” The inscription on the well reads: “If the peacock did not have feathers, it would not receive much admiration, 1817”. Another motto on the back reads: “Rising early in the morning makes you holy, rich and healthy, catching fish and birds has been the demise of many a man.” This vessel is unusual for Langnau products, not just because of the number of mottos it bears; the shape of its lip does not correspond to the normal Langnau style, nor do the manganese purple sponged decoration on top and underneath the rim or the somewhat sparse flower decoration on the well.
A box dated 1818 with a pedestal base and four broad volute strap handles also belongs to this group by virtue of the handwriting. A motto running along its neck reads: “In my rose garden is where I will wait for my sweetheart”. It has incised, chattered and slipped decoration on the outside with floral motifs that are similar to the other pieces presented here (private collection). The motto has never been found on any of the typical Langnau pieces but does occur on two other undated boxes, one of which is almost identical in shape (MAHN AA-1212).
The second box, and this is particularly important, would ordinarily be classified as a typical Langnau footed box of the DO 6 type, were it not for the motto on an incised guiding line, applied intertwined motifs that clearly deviate from the norm, very large feet that do not seem to suit the vessel and rounded volute handles with beaded decoration on the lid (private collection). Normally, such pieces from Langnau have flat strap handles. The incised floral decoration on this box is similar to that on the other pieces presented here.
Based on their shape and decoration, two other undated boxes with pedestal bases, one from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the other from the Swiss National Museum, also seem to belong to this group (FWMC C.1908&A-1928, SNM LM-009184). Another footed box with a characteristic applied decoration and rounded volute handles on the lid also appears to correspond thanks to the handwriting of its motto “Maria Dissa is my name and heaven is my true homeland” (FMST K043).
The surname Dissa must be a misspelling as this is not a typical Swiss name. Disler or Dissler are possible candidates, which would definitely mean that the owner of the vessel came from the Canton of Lucerne. A footed box from the Museum of Applied Arts in Winterthur (GMW 467) has a less elaborate decoration consisting of the same sparse flower or leaf tendrils and is very similar to a footed box dated 1809 in a private collection in Munich. This piece also has beaded decoration on its rounded volute handles on the lid.
Rounded volute handles on the lid, applied decoration on the neck of the bowl and short, rather squat and disproportioned feet are elements that are shared by five other footed boxes in this group (BHM 6029, MAG 7304, MAHN AA 1197, MKW 177, FMST K043).
A few of these boxes have pairing numbers on the inside of the lids and bowls. They also have a rather unusual flat base which, along with their plumpness, suggests that they were made by a different workshop whose products were not of the same high standards, and which could therefore be said to have been making “copies” of Langnau models. The boxes combine two important new elements in Langnau pottery making which were developed after 1800: beaded decoration and speckled decoration. In the latter, the colour particles in the slip were iron manganese as could be found in any village forge. Ground to a fine powder they were mixed in with a coat of white slip. The vessel was then covered with a thin lead glaze. During firing, the glaze melted and resulted in manganese purple specks and streaks in the slip. As far as we can tell at the moment, speckled decoration, like beaded decoration was a Langnau development. The oldest Langnau ceramics that were either covered in a coat of slip with colour particles or decorated with thick blobs of it to create a marbled effect, date from 1804 and 1806.
Langnau type 2 pottery in Pennsylvania
As early as 1903, Edwin Atlee Barber, in a book on ceramics in Pennsylvania, included a sugar box that was so similar to the boxes described above that we must assume that it was made by the same person (Barber 1903, 152-153).
Barber, who was an avid collector of pottery in Pennsylvania in the late 19th century and studied the history of Pennsylvanian pottery, assigned this box, along with a small milk jug with an almost identical decoration to the workshop of Johann Nees (other spellings of the family name included Neesz, Nice, Neis or Nase) in the Upper Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA, without stating his reasons. Both pieces are now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Garvan 1982, 192 Cat. 96 and 97).
The French ceramicist Marc-Louis Solon (1835–1913) called Barber’s attention to the fact that he had often seen this shape among “old pottery of Switzerland” (Barber 1903, 153). This led Barber to conclude that the Nees family had originally emigrated from Switzerland, though this was incorrect. Johann’s grandfather, Johannes Nehs (1705-1789), came from the Alsace region or from Germany, while his father Heinrich Nees (1740-1819) was born in Pennsylvania (all genealogical information taken from https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Nees-Family-Tree-51).
The potter Johann Nees was born on 14th April 1775 probably in the Franconia Township and died on 27th October 1867. His gravestone (with the spelling “Neβ”) can still be found at the Little Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery in Earlington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA (www.findagrave.com). He had a workshop in the neighbouring parish of Tylersport or (perhaps later?) in Upper Salford (Barber 1903, 107 and 136), on his own at first, and then with his son who was also called Johann (11/12/1814-16/9/1889; www.findagrave.com). The 1850 census of Upper Salford clearly lists Johann senior as a potter (Pennsylvania, 1850, federal census, page 326: NARA Series M432, Roll 799). He may have learnt his craft in the neighbouring township of Milford working for David Spinner, whose father Ulrich had emigrated from Zurich in 1739 (Barber 1903, 127).
The Nees workshop appears to have had other workers, at least in 1851, including one “John Leman” who was said to have served his apprenticeship as a potter in Langnau in Switzerland (Garvan 1982, 363, 365, no references). In 1820 and 1840 a John Lehman is known to have been one of seven residents of the Township of Upper Providence only 20 km away and later in the Township of Lower Providence (potentially the right person? See the 1820 Pennsylvania Census, page 175, NARA 1840, page 210, NARA Series M704, Rolls 477-478). The 1850 census, however, does not include anyone called Lehmann, neither in Lower Providence nor in Upper Salford. Nor is there any mention of someone with that surname anywhere in Montgomery County in the 1830 census.
An undated plate in the Philadelphia Museum of Art bears the name Johannes Leman incised on the back (Barber 1903, 177 Fig. 74; Garvan 1982, 182 Cat. 60), which may have been associated with another potter from Pennsylvania: Friedrich/Fredrick Hilde(n)brand/Heltebrand/Heldenbrand (22/3/1797-28/7/1852; genealogical evidence: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hildenbrand-42; www.findagrave.com; see also Garvan 1982, 363).
Hildebrand is listed in Upper Salford PA from 1830 to 1850 and the 1850 census clearly identifies him as a potter (1830 US Census; Census Place: Upper Salford, Montgomery, Pennsylvania; page 191, NARA Series: M19; Roll Number: 154; 1840, page 134, NARA Series M704, Roll Number 477; 1850, page 329, NARA Series M432, Roll 799).
He too may have been employed at the workshop run by Johann Nees (Garvan 1982, 365, no citation). However, Barber (1903, 176) believes that Hildebrand, who was born in Montgomery PA, had a workshop in Tylersport PA 10 km away. His parents’ names are not known. The ties between the Nees and Hildebrand families were established by the next generation when John Nees jun. (11/12/1814-16/9/1889) married Elmina Hildebrand, Friedrich Hildebrand’s daughter, in 1854 (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nase-52; I am grateful to Jeffrey Nase for his assistance).
Barber (1903, 177-178) believed that the plate mentioned above with the name Johanes Leman inscribed on the back, along with another one in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in New York (Inv. 77.191.2) were made by Friedrich Hildebrand. The two plates stand out by virtue of the fact that they both have chattered decoration, which was a technique that the rest of the German-speaking potters in Pennsylvania appear to have been unfamiliar with (compare the numerous plates in Garvan 1982 or Palmer Schwind 1983).
Another element is that both plates bear the following motto:
Ich liebe was fein ist,
wann schon nicht mein ist,
und mir nicht werden kann,
so hab ich doch die Freud daran.
Translation:
I love fine things,
even though they are not mine,
and will never be mine,
I still appreciate them.
The same motto can be found on as many as nine ceramic vessels from Langnau, Canton of Bern (Heege/Kistler 2017) dating from 1782 to 1797, but never on pottery, for instance, from the Heimberg-Steffisburg region (BHM 05934, BHM 24278, RML A017, MAG R175, BHM 06042, MAHN AA-1205, SfGB 052, BHM 05922, BHM 05946). There obviously must have been some sort of a link with Langnau.
Far more important, however, is that the handwriting on the plates is so similar to the incised inscriptions on the Langnau type 2 vessels presented above (particularly a plate dated 1817 MKB VI-1436), that we must presume they were made by the same person, in other words, a potter who emigrated to America from the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to find any information (dates of birth and death, place of residence) for a potter named Johannes Lehmann in the Canton of Bern. If we assume that this person made all the Langnau type 2 vessels, he would have had to have begun producing his own wares around 1809 at the age of at least 20 to 25 and would probably have been married by that stage. This would mean that he would have been born between 1780 and 1790. As the piece with the most recent date was made in 1818, he would have had to have emigrated soon after that. The climate and economic crisis of 1816/17 – 1821 would have been reason enough.
Now attributed to a new potter: Langnau type sugar box made by Johanes Leman and not by Johann Nees!
As we have shown that these footed bowls with beaded decoration and volute handles on the lid were made by the same person as the inscribed Langnau type 2 vessels, we can attribute the box presented by Barber in 1903 to the same potter or line of tradition, i.e. to Johanes Leman. Which workshop Johanes Leman was employed at when he made it remains unknown for now.
In my opinion the only way to corroborate the previous attribution to the Nees workshop would be through archaeological finds from the place of production, particularly as the other ceramic vessels from the Nees workshop do not exhibit chattered decoration and have different inscriptions (Garvan 1982, Cat. 76-100; numerous objects at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware: Palmer Schwind 1983).
All this has consequences for the traditional attribution. A sugar bowl with volute handle and beaded decoration in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in New York makes this all the more obvious, as its base also bears the mark “Johannes Leman”. It is assumed to have been made at the Nees workshop, which would mean that Johanes Leman worked there at some point (Brooklyn Museum, Inv. 57.75.18). A very similar sugar bowl was sold at auction by Crocker Farm in July 2017 (provenance: acquired in 1961 at an auction in Northampton County, PA). Another similar bowl is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York (Accession Number 34.100.152a, b).
Yet another piece that can be added to this group is part of the collection of the Winterthur Museum in Delaware (Palmer Schwind 1983, Fig. 190; Inv. 1960.0621); it has a further parallel in the collection of the Mercer Museum of the Bucks County Historical Society (Inv. 14712: Palmer Schwind 1983, 198).
Foto: Pook & Pook Inc., Downingtown PA (sales cat.), Catalogue for The Pioneer Americana Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Donald A. Shelley, April 20-21, 2007, p. 41, Lot 154.
A footed bowl sold at auction in the US in 2007 makes the typological link between the American pieces and the ceramics from Switzerland even more obvious. Another sugar bowl which had a simpler decoration but probably belongs in the same context in terms of its typology was sold at the same auction.
Summary
“Langnau type 2” pottery is a group of ceramic vessels produced by a workshop that copied the new products that were created in Langnau workshops shortly after they were first developed (footed bowls, speckled decoration, beaded decoration) without, however, achieving anything remotely comparable to the quality of workmanship found on Langnau wares. Manganese purple sponged decoration on the rims of plates, on the other hand, was a decorative motif one would otherwise see on products from Bäriswil and its surroundings. The workshop itself, however, was probably located closer to Langnau. The period of production in Switzerland can, for now at least, be firmly dated to the period between 1809 and 1818.
The potter who made these wares may have been called Johannes Lehman. He may have subsequently emigrated to the US where he continued to make Langnau type pottery, perhaps at the workshop of Johannes Nees or Friedrich Hildebrand in Tylersport or Upper Salford in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
List of objects from Switzerland that have been attributed to the group:
BHM 06029
BHM 06190
FMST K043
FWMC C.1908&A-1928
GMW 467
MAG 07304
MAHN AA-1197
MAHN AA-1212
MKB VI-01436
MKW 177
SfGB 174
SNM LM-009184
Private ownership (4 specimens)
By virtue of the handwriting on it, a plate with a drainer from the Swiss National Museum also appears to be closely related: SNM LM-003575.
Translation Sandy Haemmerle
References:
Barber 1903
Edwin Atlee Barber, Tulip ware of the Pennsylvania-German Potters. An historical Sketch of the Art of Slip-Decoration in the United States (Neuauflage 1970), New York 1903.
Garvan 1982
Beatrice B. Garvan, The Pennsylvania German Collection (Handbooks in American Art 2), Philadelphia 1982.
Heege/Kistler 2017
Andreas Heege/Andreas Kistler, Keramik aus Langnau. Zur Geschichte der bedeutendsten Landhafnerei im Kanton Bern (Schriften des Bernischen Historischen Museums 13), Bern 2017.
Heege/Liesch 2022
Andreas Heege/Andreas Liesch, Ein Emmentaler in Amerika, in: Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz Revue 136, 2022, 7-32.
Palmer Schwind 1983
Arlene Palmer Schwind, Pennsylvania German Earthenware, in: Scott T. Swank, Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans, New York 1983, 171-199.
