Zurich, 24 Limmatquai, Wächter, Arnold, specialist suppliers of art pottery

Vase with the mark “Arnold Wächter, Zürich”, 1922-1936 (photo Angelo Steccanella).

Andreas Heege, 2021

The starting point for this short chapter is an individual vase. It has an impressed mark that reads “Arnold Wächter, Zürich” and is closely reminiscent of the mark “SCHWEIZER-TÖPFEREI WR HEIMBERG-ZÜRICH” that was used by the Wächter-Reusser Art Pottery, which initially sold Heimberg ware in Zurich and later set up its own production facility in Feldmeilen.

The Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce provides interesting but rather limited information. The company Arnold Wächter-Fluck was registered in the Gazette as “specialist suppliers of art pottery” in 1922 at what was then 24 Rathausquai (SOGC 40, 1922, 230). In 1933, the name of the street was changed to Limmatquai but we do not know if the house numbers also changed. In 1928, the company registered a “storage container for butter” under the number 42737 to protect its design (SOGC 46, 1928, 1376). In the Swiss Official Gazette of 1934, the description of the company was changed slightly to “specialist suppliers of art ceramics” (SOGC 52, 1934, 1470), and in 1936, the gazette announced the dissolution of the company (SOGC 54, 1936, 2318). At no point do any of the entries refer to an independent pottery production. Both the registration of the company and the dissolution identify Arnold Wächter’s place of origin as Remigen in the Canton of Aargau. This obviously stands out in relation to the Wächter-Reusser Art Pottery, as Johann Albert Wächter (7th October 1873 – 3rd September 1938) also came from Remigen. Was Arnold Wächter perhaps Johann Albert’s brother or cousin? We cannot say for certain at this point in time. The similarities between the marks perhaps suggest that Arnold Wächter also had his ceramics manufactured in Feldmeilen.

Arnold Wächter, a merchant from Zurich and Remigen, Canton of Aargau, married to Bertha, née Rosenberger, was born in 1885 and cremated in September 1937 (Neue Zürcher Nachrichten, Volume 33, Issue 226, 28 September 1937).

Translation Sandy Haemmerle