#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement

A visit to Dordrecht, which was an important Hanseatic trade hub

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dordrecht?wprov=sfti1

14a/14

#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement

To cater to these more demanding customers it was also necessary to include good decoration, ideally on a par of what was possible in pewter.

For this the Rhine/Meuse area is perfect.

5a/n

#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement #Frechen #Keramion

Well worth a visit

https://keramion.de

2a/n

A series of posts on Rhenish Stoneware
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement

What next:

- Revisit Langerwehe
- [Museum Hetjens](https://www.duesseldorf.de/hetjens) in Düsseldorf
- Visit the [Westerwald](https://www.keramikmuseum.de)
- Explore a bit (but only a bit) how masters and journeymen moved between potteries at different locations and how the craft spread
- Have a quick peek at demographics and affluence, what were the typical buyers of stoneware
- Glance at the numbers, apparently there were millions of stoneware jugs made

14/14 for now

A series of posts on Rhenish Stoneware
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement #art #BroadbandDilettante

More possible side quests:

- [Kölner Malerschule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_school_of_painting)
- [Flemish Painting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_painting)

These two styles influenced each other and Cologne painters worked in Flanders and Flemish painters in Cologne.

This could be linked to the printing trade including woodcuts, see also the [Global spread of the printing press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_press)

I now reigning myself in. I don't want to become an expert. I'm more of a [dilettante in the 18th century meaning](https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/dilettante), ideally a broadband dilettante

13/n

A series of posts on Rhenish Stoneware
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement #BartmannGoesGlobal

At the end of the Gothic period and the beginning of the Renaissance the cities on the Rhine and the Meuse held an ever larger group of people with a bit of money and a need to represent. A similar need was had by the lower nobility.

They wanted better tableware than their poor "cousins", but pewter was out of the question. IN parallel, more sophisticated (and longer lasting) stoneware drinking vessels could be seen in the taverns.

The stoneware followed the wine trade and the beer trade of the Hanse all the way to Scandinavia, Iceland, the Baltics, Russia, England, and of course what are today the Netherlands and Belgium.

From the Netherlands and England stoneware than crossed oceans.

There is a really fascinating project, [Bartmann goes global](https://www.bartmanngoesglobal.org) that follows the stoneware to the Americas, Africa, Asia, South East Asia, even New Zealand and Australia.

12/n

A series of posts on Rhenish Stoneware
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement #Raeren #Langerwehe

My subsequent visit to Langerwehe was a bust. The [Töpfereimuseum](https://www.toepfereimuseum.de) is closed for renovation (rebuilding?) and the interim exhibition was not yet ready.

I did have a brief talk with the resident potter (quite a nice shop actually). And he told me that while Raeren made stoneware for export, Langerwehe served local markets mainly.

So back on the list it goes

11/n

A series of posts on Rhenish Stoneware
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement #Raeren #Langerwehe

This brought me to a visit to Raeren. With the car, because that exceeds my abilities (80 km one way). And because I passed it, I also visited Langerwehe.

First Raeren is pronounced with a long a (Raaren). Second, it is a German speaking bit of Belgium. Nothing to do with world wars though, it was part of the Spanish Netherlands.

Anyway, Raeren. There is a **very good** [museum](https://www.toepfereimuseum.org) with an also **very good** website.

The museum is in the castle.

And here we find also some of the tools of the stoneware trade, namely [molds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molding_(process))

And the stoneware that could be made with molds.

10/n

A series of posts on Rhenish Stoneware
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement #Frechen #kilns

As I had somehow managed to miss the site, I went back to Frechen and looked at some kilns.

9/n