smazzone

Hi Ron,

Thanks for your input.

Many old faience steins depict white (or very light gray) horses, often standing on their hind legs or jumping. The Lipizzaner horses are noted for the many feats they perform, including their stands and mid-air jumps.

A question for you or anyone else reading this that is familiar with faience stein history: Are the horses depicted on these old faience steins in fact known to be Lipizzaners, a breed initiated by the Habsburgs in the 16th century in Lipizza (now Lipica, which is in modern-day Slovenia) and was then part of the Habsburg holdings? Or are the horses on these steins one of the German breeds of the 17th-18th centuries?

I wouldn’t want to contact the Spanish Riding School if the horses on these steins are commonly known by the experts in fact to be a different breed.

Thanks, John, excellent advice. I have just sent an email to the club’s contact. But I have to totally disagree with you on there being nothing heraldic about the image. I believe the escutcheon is not in the shape of a traditional shield only because the potter chose to have its shape conform to the melon shape of the birnkrug. The image itself is clearly a combined, or marshalled in heraldic terminology, coat of arms. Just as the Electors of Saxony coat of arms is the combination of the crossed swords of the Arch Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire Electoral College coat of arms and the Saxony coat of arms. A good example of this on a Muskauer stein (although not a birnkrug) is in the Beer Stein Library’s Muskau section of their Early Stoneware Stein Catalog. And there is stylized crowning on the top of my stein’s escutcheon.

Thanks for your input, Ron. The website to which you provided a link is one of countless others I’ve already researched, dealing with heraldry, German families and coats of arms in general, and the Saxon electors in particular. By the way, you’ll see on that site, as well as others that discuss heraldry, that the general heraldry term for “diamonds” is “lozenge”, the term I used in my last post. Specifically, it says: “The lozenge is a rhombus generally resembling the diamonds of playing-cards. A more acute lozenge is called a fusil.” Also, if you look in the Muskau section of the Beer Stein Library’s Early Stoneware Stein Catalog, you’ll see a stein with the Elector of Saxony coat of arms. If you’ll look at the left hand portion of the coat of arms, you’ll see the crossed swords are portrayed very much like the “crossed thingies” on my stein’s coat of arms; this is what convinced me that they were indeed crossed swords (and not, by the way, sabers, although you can be forgiven for thinking that since my “crossed thingies” do indeed show a curve). Finally, it sounds like the coat of arms you describe for Herzog zu Sachsen is the Electorate of Saxony coat of arms, which is a marshalled shield per pale (i.e., divided in half vertically) with the crossed swords on the left and a green crancelin over a gold and black striped field on the right, this right hand portion being the general coat of arms for Saxony. I do have a rather fanciful conjecture as to what the field of “diamonds” or “lozenges” might be associated with. I won’t go into detail here as I’m still researching it, but the clue is “jester.”

My research has led me to the conclusion that the “crossed something-or-others” are in fact impressionistic representations of the crossed swords of the coat of arms of the Imperial Arch Marshal of the Electoral College that chose the Holy Roman Emperors from the 13th to the 19th centuries, a position that was held by the Elector of Saxony. However, although my research uncovered a number of coats of arms comprising a field of vertically oriented square lozenges similar to those on my stein, I have been unable to find anything that would tie any of them to any Elector of Saxony, nor have I been successful in finding an overall match for my stein’s coat of arms.

Thanks for your input, George. The lid is dated “M.E.” “1744”, a dating that seems about right. I believe it to be an authentic mid-18th century Muskauer Birnkruk. Muskau was in the Lusatian region of Germany, adjacent to Poland. I have been trying all sorts of Google searches using various search terms that might yield clues. I’ve also been searching coats of arms for Muskau and nearby (and some not so nearby) cities. No joy. Any idea what the crossed something-or-others are? They’re definitely not swords.

Trying again to add image.
Muskauer Birnkrug

Thanks Ron.

So, after using various combinations of search terms on Google, I was successful in determining the manufacturer of the piece. It’s Zinn Menna Nuremberg. The material I uncovered gives the history of the firm and shows the firm’s logo as the angel with sword in one hand, balance scale in the other, and the letters ZMN beneath the angel.

Thanks Ron – Yeah, I figured that the “ZMN” or “NWZ” was likely to be the manufacturer. I also figure that the Z might stand for Zinnwerke, or some such. The “N” could well stand for Nuremberg, were the jungfraubecher presumably was born, or something else entirely. Then there is the “M” or “W”, whichever it is depending on how you orient it. I’ve continued to search to no avail. I’ve just ordered a copy of “Pewter Marks of the World” from eBay. Maybe that will shed some light.

Thanks Martyn!

I believe I now understand the markings on the front of the stein.

Now, if only I could track down the artist of my painting, which as outlined in my original post, is the same image as on the lid of my stein.

I have found a slightly different, somewhat smaller yet nearly identical version of my painting. It was signed F Hartogh and dated 1856. I haven’t been able to find any information about the artist except an obscure reference that listed his birth and death dates as 1830 and 1919 respectively.

Since the image has been reproduced not only on the lid of a stein but also on (at least) two oil paintings, I find it unavoidable to believe that the original image must have been held in high regard, whether or not my painting is that original image.

Steve B,
Thanks for the tip. I was able to find one Der ABC Schutze by Thone. Although it was of a young boy, it wasn’t the one I have. Style seems a bit different also.

The plot thickens. I’ve taken a closer look at the markings on the front of the stein with a magnifying glass.

The markings all appear to have been incised after glazing. However, there are differences.

The uppermost horizontal line, which is terminated at either end with a “/”, as well as the vertical line emanating downward from it, appear to have been cut only partially through the glaze (or done after glazing but before firing).

The remaining lines, including those in the “X”, are somewhat narrower and deeper, cut completely through the glaze, and have a somewhat different, not as neat, appearance. They appear almost certainly to have been wheel cut as the cut depth at the line ends decreases in a circular arc.

In contrast, the ends of uppermost horizontal line, its pair of “/”, and the vertical line emanating downward from it do not exhibit this characteristic. If they were not done at different times they at least seem to have been done with different methods and/or tools.

Question for the experts: Could the set of uppermost markings been done after glazing but before firing? I’ve never heard of such a thing, but it might explain the difference in appearance of the lines.

The differences in the lines creates yet another enigma.

Ron,
I did go to Jordon’s website. The maas mark he shows on his HB stein is a horizontal line with “/” marks at each end with the letter “M” above it.

As you can see, on my stein the upper horizontal line has “/” marks on either end but no “M” above it. The lower horizontal line has neither “/” marks on either end nor a 1L designation. Nevertheless, I think it’s more than a coincidence that the lower horizontal line coincides with a water level of 1 liter and the upper horizontal line coincides with a water level of 1 maas and have to conclude that was the intent of the markings.

Thanks Ron.

Prior to your response, I had done some experimentation. When filled with exactly 1 liter of water, the level matches the lower horizontal line of the upper figure on the stein. When just under 100 ml of additional water is added, the level matches the upper horizontal line. Since, as I’ve learned, the maas used in southern Germany equates to 1.069 of today’s liters, I have come to the conclusion that the upper markings on the front of the stein is a capacity mark that shows bot the liter line and the maas line. Thoughts, anyone? Any ideas what the meaning of the “X” might be?

Thanks Paul and Bill for your efforts in trying to track down information on the stein and the artist. When I used Google Translate on “Der ABC Schutze”, I got “The ABC Protection”, which didn’t make much sense to me. Thanks for clarifying the meaning. Re The age of the stein: In looking at the body, I first felt it was earlier than the late 1800’s. But in reviewing “Pewter Fittings Through The Ages” in the SCI library, it seems the hinge clearly dates it as the late 1800s. I am a novice at this, though, and I may well be wrong. Also, I guess it’s possible that the lid is a replacement, but it really looks original.