View of Hettiswil, Grauenstein and Hängelen, with Hindelbank in the middle distance and the forest near Bäriswil on the left-hand edge of the image. The well-known clay pit of 1809 is marked in red in the foreground (Tongrube). 1 Location of the former potters’ house 50 Hängelen (1 Hängelen today), which burnt down in 1947. 2 Location of the house at 59 Hängelen (22 Hängelen today), where Hans Häberli (1704–1788) lived and 60 Hängelen (24 Hängelen today), where potter Jakob Häberli (1732–1780) lived for a short time. 3 Location of 56 Hängelen (10 Hängelen today), the house that Johannes III (1778–1851) and Bendicht Häberli (1787–1840) built in 1822 (photo Daniel Maurhofer, Ankermedia 2019)
Andreas Heege, Alfred Spycher, Andreas Kistler 2020
Hängelen, now part of the municipality of Krauchthal and the village of Hettiswil, is a little-known pottery centre just east of Bäriswil, where six potters from three generations produced ceramic vessels and tiled stoves over a period of 70 years from c. 1747 to 1817.
In 1826, the Krauchthal chronicler Peter Schertenleib wrote: “The Häberli brothers [Johannes, 1778–1851, and Bendicht, 1787–1840] in Hängelen are not currently pursuing any profession. It would be desirable if they returned to their craft soon, as they have always upheld the renown of Hängelen pottery” (Schertenleib 1826, 56–57).
We can assume that Peter Schertenleib knew what he was talking about, as he had been elected to the local council of Krauchthal on 30th April 1818 and was president of the local council from May 1818 until at least January 1830. This would have meant that he served on the local council with potter Johannes Häberli III (1778–1851) for six years (1818–1824) (Krauchthal municipal archive). After 1817, the last potter, Johannes III, is mentioned merely as a “Chorrichter” (a judge in the consistory or religious court) or as an “Alt-Chorrichter” (former judge of the consistory court), but never again as a “potter”. We can only assume that the climatic downturn, which resulted in the economically difficult years between 1816 (The Year Without a Summer) and 1821, which had caused the potters Kräuchi in Bäriswil and Staub in Langenthal to go bankrupt, were also the reason for the Häberlis to quit their craft. It was therefore probably no coincidence that potter Aeschlimann from Burgdorf was given the task to repair the old tiled stove in the rectory in Krauchthal and to install a new one in November 1820.
This fact prompted us to concentrate on the potters Häberli from Hängelen, their family tree, their property and potters’ sites, their products and the mystery surrounding the Bäriswil-style tiled stoves (now a detailed study published by Heege/Spycher/Kistler 2020). This was the first time that information about the Bäriswil-style tiled stoves was gathered and analysed in detail (Heege 2012), as the authors of the original Bäriswil book (Heege/Kistler/Thut 2011) only became aware of them after the book had been published.
To begin with we can state that our research into the family history did not produce any evidence of direct kinship between the Häberli potters who were active in the 18th and 19th centuries in Münchenbuchsee and the Häberli potters from Hängelen. Nor are there any familial links to the Häberli potters that are known to have lived and worked in Jegenstorf from 1861 to 1941. There are, however, links between the family trees of the latter and the Münchenbuchsee Häberlis (Citizens’ Registry of the Municipality of Münchenbuchsee 2,81; 3,151; 5,151). Prior to 1800, the only Bernese communities with naturalised Häberlis were Krauchthal, Münchenbuchsee and Jegenstorf, while there were numerous Häberlis that were citizens of the Cantons of Lucerne, Thurgau and Zurich (Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz, [Register of Swiss Surnames], online version).
The potters from Hängelen were members of a large, relatively poor rural population in the 18th century Canton of Bern, who could not make ends meet solely from farming their smallholdings and therefore had to find a second source of income by some other means. According to the citizens’ registry of 1798, we know that at least 83 potters were operating in 26 different localities throughout the Canton of Bern at the time (Heege/Kistler 2017b, 45 Fig. 7).
The Hängelen potters mentioned in the 18th century archives were preceded by three generations of Häberlis from other professions (family tree). When compiling the family tree, we did not include any stillborn children or children who had died before being baptised. We focused specifically on the line of Häberli potters and did not follow any other branches of the family.
We were able to trace the genealogy of the Häberli potters from Hängelen with a considerable degree of accuracy, and the same can be said for the houses and properties the potters lived and worked in. Tracing Häberli products, on the other hand, i.e. the tiled stoves and ceramic vessels, was an altogether different experience. Despite the fact that there are two known tiled stoves that bear the name “Johannes Häberli”, one in Mattstetten, the other in Ittigen (now Diessbach near Büren), we cannot confirm any attributions as it stands today.
Mattstetten “Schlössli”, 15 Bäriswilstrasse, “Bäriswil-style” tiled stove dated 1781, tile bearing the signature “Johanes Häberlj”.
At this stage of the debate, one would be most inclined to identify the signature as the name of the stove fitter (from Hängelen) which was painted by the stove painter (from Bäriswil). This would mean that, in the early 1780s, the Häberli potters may have hired schoolmaster Ludwig Kräuchi (1743–1814) from Bäriswil to paint their stoves and that he then obviously decorated them in the “Bäriswil style”.
It can be shown, at least for the year 1785, that Bernese stove painter Peter Gnehm also worked for the Häberlis. Simple Dittlinger stoves and Häberli stoves could therefore look identical, and it may not be possible to distinguish between the two. The same could be the case in stoves painted in the “Bäriswil style”, as the Kräuchi potters from Bäriswil also produced tiled stoves.
In general, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that the attribution of “Bäriswil-style” ceramic vessels to Bäriswil and the Kräuchi potters is in itself based purely on a few theories and clues, albeit well-founded ones (e.g. moulds found in the Bäriswil “Röhrehütte” [pipe hut]). Given that the potters from Bäriswil, Hängelen and Jegenstorf all used the same clay deposits, scientific analyses would unfortunately be pointless in this case, in trying to determine the provenance of individual products. As shown by the example of Langnau Sonnweg 1 (Heege/Kistler 2017a, 153–183), the only thing that might help us to solve the problem in the future would be to excavate the main potters’ sites in Bäriswil and Hängelen. Any waste recovered would probably provide more reliable information on the production and range of shapes and decorations from each workshop.
A comprehensive study that includes all sources and a compilation of all “Bäriswil-style” tiled stoves can be found in: Andreas Heege/Alfred Spycher/Andreas Kistler, Die Hafner von Hängelen und das Rätsel der Bäriswiler Kachelöfen, in: Gemeindebuch Krauchthal, 2020, 173-256.
The book can be ordered from: Gemeindeverwaltung Krauchthal, Länggasse 1, 3326 Krauchthal, Tel. 034 411 80 80, Fax 034 411 80 89, info@krauchthal.ch (price including post and packaging CHF 45)
Translation Sandy Haemmerle
References:
Heege 2012
Andreas Heege, Kräuchis Chacheli und Öfen, Töpfe, Teller, Kachelöfen: Keramik aus Bäriswil (1758-1821), in: Alpenhorn-Kalender, Brattig für das Berner Mittel- und Oberland, 2012, 136–142.
Heege/Kistler 2017a
Andreas Heege/Andreas Kistler, Keramik aus Langnau. Zur Geschichte der bedeutendsten Landhafnerei im Kanton Bern (Schriften des Bernischen Historischen Museums 13), Bern 2017.
Heege/Kistler 2017b
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.
Heege/Kistler/Thut 2011
Andreas Heege/Andreas Kistler/Walter Thut, Keramik aus Bäriswil. Zur Geschichte einer bedeutenden Landhafnerei im Kanton Bern (Schriften des Bernischen Historischen Museums 10), Bern 2011.
Heege/Spycher/Kistler 2020
Andreas Heege/Alfred Spycher/Andreas Kistler, Die Hafner von Hängelen und das Rätsel der Bäriswiler Kachelöfen, in: Krauchthaler Jahrbuch, 2020, 173-256.
Schertenleib 1826
Peter Schertenleib, Einige Beiträge einer topographisch-statistisch-landwirtschaftlichen Beschreibung der Kirchgemeinde Krauchthal. Handschriftliche Aufzeichnungen vom 12. Oktober 1826 (Burgerbibliothek Bern. GA Oek.Ges.125 (7). , Krauchthal 1826.
Schweingruber 1971
Max Schweingruber, Handwerk und Gewerbe, in: Lehrerschaft des Amtes Burgdorf und Kirchgemeinde Utzenstorf und Bätterkinden in Verbindung mit der Gemeinde Krauchthal (Hrsg.), Krauchthal Thorberg. Ein Heimatbuch, Burgdorf 1971, 210–242.
