Pattern books

Ziegler’sche Tonwarenfabrik Schaffhausen, Canton of Schaffhausen, page from a pattern book dating from prior to 1862.

From the 18th century onwards, many manufacturers of porcelain, faience or refined white earthenware published pattern books or pamphlets, illustrated catalogues, images to accompany separate pricelists as well as lists of goods with or without images to promote their products, both for wholesale and retail. They allowed local distributors and consumers to order certain products or to have them made. Nowadays the lists and pattern books help researchers to study the individual production lines and those that survive are all the more important because lists from the 18th and the first half of the 19th century are extremely rare. Pattern books with illustrations also provide a unique insight into the terminology used at the time to describe vessel types and decorations, while at the same time documenting the prices and price differences depending on the decorative elements.

By contrast to the larger manufacturers and factories, only a few of the artisanal craftsmen in the late 19th century were using style sheets and illustrated price lists to promote their trade because they felt compelled to incorporate more entrepreneurial procedures into the running of their workshops (on the topic in general see: Lehnemann 1997). This was seen particularly often in Soufflenheim (Legendre/Maire 1996; Legendre/Maire 2010) and Oberbetschdorf (Heege 2013) in the Alsace and in the Westerwald region of Germany (Dippold/Zühlcke/Scheja 2008), though other French potters also had such lists (Pillet 2007).

Pattern book and pricelist of Emil Scheydecker, Soufflenheim, c. 1890-1900.

Pattern book and price list for stoneware made by Victor Schmitter, Oberbetschdorf,  probably after 1918.

With regard to Switzerland, there is one hand-written stock ledger dated 1768 from the Zurich porcelain manufacturer at Kilchberg-Schooren as well as two pricelists dated 1769 (SNM LM-95448) and 1780 (Staehelin 1951, 3-6; Bösch 2003, 138-140) respectively, both without illustrations. An undated pattern book from the company Baylon at Carouge, on the other hand, does contain illustrations and has been dated to the early 19th century (Marquis/Dumaret 2006, 76-85; Maire 2008, 290-296). A later pattern book from the company Ch. Degrange & Cie at Carouge (1890-1897) has also survived (Bibliothèque de Genève BGE X 1717). Although two pattern books from the Scheller manufactory at Kilchberg-Schooren ZH (dating from after 1846, but prior to 1859) have only survived in old photographs (reprint: Ducret 2007, 16-30; cf. also Frei 1930), they are highly significant. Together with the pattern books from Schramberg in Germany, they show that the Swiss pottery producers were strongly influenced by their German competitors. The remnants of four pattern books and pricelists from the Ziegler pottery factory in Schaffhausen have survived in the form of photo negatives (SNM NEG-25803 – NEG-25817) and one original document held at the City Archive of Schaffhausen (Ziegler-Keramik 1993,  28; see also Frei 1926; Frei  1951; Messerli-Bolliger 1991, 32-35, 38-42, Pl. 5-7, reprint with partially divergent dates). The pattern books of the Aedermannsdorf manufactory (1895) and the pottery factory (Thun majolica) of Johannes Wanzenried in Steffisburg near Thun (c. 1890/1900) are later in date.

Switzerland:

Pattern books from Kilchberg-Schooren, Zurich, Scheller

Pattern book of the Ziegler pottery factory Schaffhausen, c. 1860 (StadtASH D III.02.29/08)

Pattern book of the Ziegler pottery factory Schaffhausen, prior to 1862 (Messerli-Bolliger 1991: “after 1863”)

Pattern book of the Ziegler pottery factory Schaffhausen, 1862/1865 (Messerli-Bolliger 1991: “1865 or later”)

Pattern book of the Ziegler pottery factory Schaffhausen, 1869/1872

Pattern book Carouge, Baylon:  Marquis/Dumaret 2006, 76-85, 245-246;
Maire 2008, 290-296

Pattern book Carouge-Degrange: Geneva library network, shelf mark BGE X 1717

Pattern book Aedermannsdorf 1895 (© Freunde der Matzendorfer Keramik)

Pattern book Thun majolica, Wanzenried manufactory c. 1880/1881 (© Museum der Kulturen Basel, VI 61773.01-61773.21)

Pattern book Thun majolica, Wanzenried manufactory 1884 (© Stadtarchiv Thun, Sign.: 1/14S 1 )

Pattern book WS&S Musée céramique – Schoch-Läderach, Thun c. 1880-1885

Pattern book Luzern-Ebikon, Kunstkeramik Luzern (c. 1930-1932)

Designs, Luzern-Ebikon, Kunstkeramik Luzern, c. 1925

Pattern book (album of photographs), Luzern-Ebikon, Kunstkeramik Luzern, c. 1931/1932

Luzern-Ebikon, Kunstkeramik Luzern A.G., drafts of the “Alt-Langnau” pattern, c. 1925-1932

Luzern-Ebikon, Kunstkeramik Luzern A.G., list of forms, c. 1945-1953

Pattern book (album of photographs) Loder & Schweizer Steffisburg (c. 1920-1924)

Schüpbach, Canton of Bern, pottery Kohler – Pattern books

Germany:

Pattern book I Schramberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Pattern book Schramberg II – plates and texts

Pattern book Schramberg II – price lists

Pattern book Schramberg II – publication, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Pattern books and price lists of the Schramberg majolica factory  (originals in the SMF factory archive, copies  in the collections of the Stadtmuseum Schramberg – Schramberg Town Museum)

Pattern book Schramberg III – c. 1871-1883

Pattern book Schramberg IV – V&B – 1886, addendum

Pattern book Schramberg V – V&B – 1890, part 1

Pattern book Schramberg V – V&B – 1890, part 2

Pattern book Schramberg V – V&B – 1890, part 3

Pattern book Schramberg VI – V&B, 1892, addendum

Pattern book/price list  Schramberg VII – V&B – 1898

Pattern book Schramberg VIII – V&B – 1901, Part 1

Pattern book Schramberg VIII – V&B – 1901, Part 2

Price list Hornberg 1841/1842, Baden-Württemberg, Germany: Bühler/Schmidt 1967

Pattern book Fleischmann, Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany

Pattern book Johann Glatz, Villingen-Schwenningen, shortly after 1887 (Museum Villingen-Schwenningen Inv. 13515)

Pattern book Bunzlau 1936, Silesia – now Poland: Lippert  1982

Pattern books Westerwald stoneware:  Dippold/Zühlcke/Scheja 2008

Pattern books Meissen:  Lubcke/Antonin/Beckmann 2018

Pattern book of the refined white earthenware manufactory at Aschach, Bavaria: Brandl 1993

Pattern books of the refined white earthenware manufactory at Witteburg near Farge a.d. Weser: Gnettner 1985, 79-100

References to further price lists and pattern books of refined white earthenware manufacturers in Bavaria: Haussmann 2002

England:

Wedgwood’s Catalogue of Earthenware and Porcelain, Staffordshire, England (1816)

The Wedgwood & Bentley Catalogue of 1779, The Wedgwood Society of New York, 1965. Facsimile Reprint.

The Wedgwood Catalogue (1787): Catalogue of cameos, intaglios, medals, bas-reliefs, busts and small statues: with a general account of tablets, vases, ecritoires, and other ornamental and useful articles: the whole formed in different kinds of porcelain and terra cotta, chiefly after the antique, and the finest models of modern artists, by Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S. and A.S., potter to Her Majesty, and to His Royal Highness the Duke of York and Albany, and sold at his rooms in Greek Street, Soho, London, and at his manufactory, in Staffordshire, Volume: 2 (1787), The Wedgwood Society of New York, 1980. Facsimile Reprint.

List of all known Wedgwood catalogues (though surprisingly without any information about sources or where they are kept!): Reilly 1995, 513-514.

Castleford Design Book (1796). Republished by E.P.Publishing, Ltd., 1973 with a preface by Peter Walton and an historical note by Heather Lawrence.

St. Anthony’s Pottery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Joseph Sewell’s Book of Designs (ca. 1815), Ed. by Clarice and Harold Blakey on behalf of the Northern Ceramic Society and Tyne & Wear Museums, 1993

The James and Charles Whitehead Catalogue of 1798, facsimile edition by D.B. Drakard.

Pattern book Leeds, Yorkshire, England (1794 with additions from 1814): Griffin 2005, 118-149.

Design, Drawing and Pattern books Leeds, Yorkshire, England (1781/82 – 1819): Griffin 2005, 279-572.

Pattern book Don Pottery (1801-1893), Yorkshire (possibly 1803/1804):  Griffin 2000, 46-97.

Pattern book Leeds, Yorkshire, Hartley, Greens & Co.,  (Winterthur Museum Document NK4087 L48 TC, dated 1814)

Pattern book Spode,  Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire (Winterthur Museum Document 655, dated 1820-1821)

Longton, England, Joseph Ball,  possibly Bagguley & Ball, active between 1822 and 1835 (Winterthur Museum Document 64)

Hanley, England,  Thomas Dimmock & Co.  (Winterthur Museum Document  540, dated  1850-1860).

Pattern book Prestonpans (Scotland), Bellfield&Co., c. 1900 (with thanks to George Haggerty).

France:

Pattern books Soufflenheim, Alsace, France: Legendre/Maire 1996; Legendre/Maire 2010

Pattern books Oberbetschdorf, Alsace, France: Heege 2013.

Pattern books and price lists for refined white earthenware from France: Maire 2008, 278, 297-313.

Various pattern books from France: Pillet 2007, 266-286.

Pattern book of the Massier manufactory, Golfe Juan, shortly after 1883:  Forest/Lacquemant 2000, 113-135.

Pattern books Utzschneider & Cie., Sarreguemines:  Gauvin/Becker 2007

Norway (with thanks to Ian Reed, Trondheim)

Pattern book Andreas Moe’s Stoneware Factory, Trondheim, c. 1910

Czechia

Pattern book WS&S (Musée céramique – Schoch-Läderach, Thun) c. 1880-1885

Translation Sandy Haemmerle

German: Musterbücher
French: Catalogue d’échantillons

References:

Bühler/Schmidt 1967
Carl Bühler/Eckhard Schmidt, Vom Steingut Geschirr zur Sanitär Keramik. 150 Jahre im Dienste der Keramik, Hornberg 1967.

Brandl 1993
Andrea Brandl, Aschacher Steingut. Die Steingutfabrik (1829-1861) des Schweinfurter Industriellen Wilhelm Sattler (Schweinfurter Museumsschriften 55), Schweinfurt 1993.

Dippold/Zühlcke/Scheja 2008
Christine Dippold/Sabine Zühlcke/Dagmar Scheja, Westerwälder Gebrauchsgeschirr von der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis in die 1960er Jahre. Teil 1: Texte und Firmenverzeichnis. Teil 2: Katalog der Gefässe und Nachdrucke ausgewählter Warenverzeichnisse, Nürnberg 2008.

Forest/Lacquemant 2000
Dominique Forest/Karine Lacquemant, Massier – l’introduction de la céramique artistique sur la Côte d’Azur : 7 mai – 27 septembre 2000, Musée Magnelli, musée de la céramique, Vallauris, Paris 2000.

Frei 1926
Karl Frei, Ein Portraitmedaillon des ersten schweizerischen Bundespräsidenten Jonas Furrer aus der Tonwarenfabrik J. Ziegler-Pellis in Schaffhausen: modelliert von Johann Jakob Oechslin, in: Jahresbericht des Schweizerischen Landesmuseums 35, 1926, 85-105.

Frei 1930
Karl Frei, Lebenserinnerungen des Fayencefabrikanten Johannes Scheller von Kilchberg, in: Zürcher Taschenbuch 50, 1930, 157-210.

Frei 1951
Karl Frei, Die Keramik an den schweizerischen Industrie- und Gewerbeausstellungen in Bern 1848 und 1857, Teil I, in: Freunde der Schweizer Keramik, Mitteilungsblatt 20, 1951, 4-7.

Gauvin/Becker 2007
Henri Gauvin/Jean-Jacques Becker, Cent ans de faïences populaires peintes à Sarreguemines et à Digoin, Sarreguemines 2007.

Gnettner 1985
Horst Gnettner, Steingutfabrik Witteburg in Farge bei Bremen, Bremen 1985.

Griffin 2000
John D. Griffin, The Don Pottery 1801-1893, London 2000.

Griffin 2005
John D. Griffin, The Leeds Pottery, 1770-1881. To which is Appended an Illustrated Account of the Work of the Revivalists, J. & G.W. Senior and J.T. Morton, 1880s to c. 1950, Leeds 2005.

Haussmann 2002
Klaus Haussmann, Steingut. Das Tafelgeschirr der Bürger und Barone 1750-1918, Hohenberg a.d. Eger 2002.

Legendre/Maire 1996
Jean-Pierre Legendre/Jean Maire, La céramique de Soufflenheim (Bas-Rhin) du milieu du XIXe siècle au début du XXe siècle. Typologie de la production et éléments de chronologie, in: Cahiers Alsaciens d’archéologie, d’art et d’histoire 39, 1996, 139-170.

Legendre/Maire 2010
Jean-Pierre Legendre/Jean Maire, Nouveaux éléments pour la chronologie de la céramique de Soufflenheim au XIXe et auch XXe siècle, in: Cahiers Alsaciens d’archéologie, d’art et d’histoire 53, 2010, 161-175.

Lehnemann 1997
Wingolf Lehnemann, Als die Töpfer Fabrikanten wurden. Musterblätter, Preislisten und Kataloge aus Töpfereien, in: Ruth-E. Mohrmann/Volker Rodekamp/Dieter Sauermann, Volkskunde im Sapnnungsfeld zwischen Universität und Museum: Festschrift für Hinrich Siuts zum 65. Geburtstag (Beiträge zur Volkskultur in Nordwestdeutschland 95), München 1997, 239-252.

Lippert 1982
Ekkehard Lippert, Bunzlauer Braunzeug. Anmerkungen zu seiner Herstellung nach 1800, in: Lenz Kriss-Rettenbeck/Ingolf Bauer, Volkstümliche Keramik aus Europa 2. Beiträge zur Keramikforschung. Festschrift für Alfred Höck zum 60. Geburtstag (Beiträge zur Volkstumsforschung 22), München 1982, 127-146.

Lubcke/Antonin/Beckmann 2018
Hartmut Lubcke/Daniela Antonin/Wilko Beckmann, Das Blau des Königs Rohadabläh. Meissener Zwiebelmuster in seiner ganzen Vielfalt (1730 bis 1888), Düsseldorf 2018.

Maire 2008
Christian Maire, Histoire de la faïence fine francaise 1743-1843, Le Mans 2008.

Marquis/Dumaret 2006
Jean-Marie Marquis/Isabelle Dumaret, Arts à Carouge : céramistes et figuristes (Dictionnaire Carougeois Tome IV A), Carouge 2006.

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, in: Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz, Mitteilungsblatt 106, 1991, 5-100.

Pillet 2007
Marc Pillet, Poteries traditionnelles en France de 1980 à nos jours, Vendin-le-Vieil 2007.

Reilly 1995
Robin Reilly, Wedgwood: The new illustrated dictionary, Woodbridge 1995.

Staehelin 1951
Walter A. Staehelin, Ein wiedergefundenes Lager- und Speditionsbuch der Zürcher Porzellan- und Fayencefabrik aus dem Jahre 1768, in: Keramikfreunde der Schweiz Mitteilungsblatt 18, 1951, 3-6.

Ziegler-Keramik 1993
Museum zu Allerheiligen (Hrsg.), Ziegler-Keramik. Ziegler’sche Thonwarenfabrik AG Schaffhausen (1828-1973), Schaffhausen 1993.