Rhenish Stoneware

You thought I was done, but you’d be wrong. I ended the “research” but there’s still, well, stuff to do.

For one, I did not yet go to the Westerwald. This is the “other” continuing stoneware pottery centre.

The Westerwald is where potters from Siegburg and Raeren went at the end of the 16th century. Siegburg was running out of wood and losing customers to the newer Rennaisance designs of Frechen stoneware.

Raeren ended up in the Spanish Netherlands which drove some of the protestant potters to the Westerwald.

Both Raeren and Siegburg were heavily impacted by the 30year war.

So we ended up with 2 surviving centres.

Frechen, which converted over time to the production of stoneware tiles and water/refuse pipes (until the early 2000).

The Westerwald (Höhr-Grenzhausen) which took up mass production and kept it up also until the early 2000).

The trip to the Westerwald is planned for May, including the Keramikmuseum.

I’ve also compiled a list of photographs I want to take in Cologne and Siegburg. There’s also another three museums I haven’t seen yet (two are closed for renovations atm)

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

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

When I retired I decided on a “project” to keep busy and learn and see interesting things. As I live in Cologne, an important medieval trading centre, I had the idea to follow some of the trade goods, ideally by bicycle and taking photos on the way.

The first trading good I followed was stoneware.

• Stoneware was produced close(ish) to where I live
• Several good museums
• And it was nice looking, easy to photograph

Ok, done

In November 2025 I jumped on my bike and visited Frechen to visit the Keramion and see what there was still to see of the stoneware pottery history.

There was a lot, industrial stoneware eg sewage pipes were produced there until quite recently. Of course the medieval stuff was more difficult.

Anyway, this is, what the most “famous” product of Rhenish Stoneware looks like, the Bartmann Krug.

What the visit to the Keramion (a museum for ceramics in Frechen) started to show, is that stoneware is easy to photograph individually, but slightly difficult to capture what makes it interesting besides being pretty.

First question, what is it, and what makes it special?

Stoneware pottery is heated to a much higher temperature and for longer than other types of pottery.

Normal pottery is baked between 600 C to about 1100 C. If you want it water tight, you need to glaze it.

Stoneware is baked between 1200 C and 1300 C. The result is water tight and acid proof as the clay is sintered at these temperatures. It is also more difficult to shatter. These properties explain why high quality sewage pipes are still made from stoneware.

But apart from the improved properties stoneware was also more expensive and more difficult to produce.

To produce stoneware you needed: high quality clay, wood, salt (for the glaze) and customers who were willing to pay more than for simple, everyday, pottery.

You also needed fairly tolerant neighbors, as the salt glazing produced chloric acid, which can’t have been a lot of fun.

In summary:

• high quality clay
• good supply of firewood
• good supply of (cheap) salt
• access to customers who were able and willing to pay more

Starting with the customers, Cologne had been a major trade centre from Roman times and was well connected to markets via the Rhine, but also overland routes like the Via Belgica, the Via Regia, the Hellweg etc.

Trading pottery was also a thing since Roman times and Terra Sigillata wares were produced and traded.

This was a good thing for Cologne potters, but also for potters with access to the Cologne market.

This map shows the main pottery centers.

Stoneware is thought to have originated in Siegburg. Siegburg itself was dominated by Siegburg Abbey, which had been founded by Cologne Archbishop Anno II in 1046.

Siegburg pottery was traded locally, but was also sold via Cologne. The Sieg river was navigable in the Middle Ages and led to the Rhine just a bit south of Cologne.

There is a nice museum in Siegburg, which has a quite nice exhibition on stoneware.

My two museum visits showed that a bit more context would be good. Just visiting the pottery towns and their museums to take pictures of very similar looking (to the lay person) would be quite boring.

I started collecting books and academic papers on stoneware, pottery and everything that looked remotely connected.

For that I had to reactivate Obsidian, which I had used professionally before, to keep the stuff /semy/ organized.

Sidequests:

• Obsidian
• The Black Death and population expansion
• Increasing affluence and more discerning buyers
• Printing, woodcuts and the commodisation of art
• Continuity between the Rhineland and the Maasgouw
  • Germania Inferior
  • Germania Secunda
  • Frankish Settlement (Salian and Ripurarian Franks)
  • Regnum Lotharii (or Lotharingia)
  • Eclesiastical province Cologne
    • Cologne
    • Cambrai
    • Lüttich (Maastricht, Tongeren)
    • Utrecht
    • and bits on the right side of the Rhine
  • HRM
• Kiln types and construction
• …

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

This brought me to a visit to Raeren (spring of 2026). 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 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

And the stoneware that could be made with molds.

My subsequent visit to Langerwehe was a bust. The Töpfereimuseum 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

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 that follows the stoneware to the Americas, Africa, Asia, South East Asia, even New Zealand and Australia.

More possible side quests:

• Kölner Malerschule
• 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

I now reigning myself in. I don’t want to become an expert. I’m more of a dilettante in the 18th century meaning, ideally a broadband dilettante

What next:

• Revisit Langerwehe
• Museum Hetjens in Düsseldorf
• Visit the Westerwald
• 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

It’s going to be historical, archaeological, (mostly) cyclable und fun

We are going on a weeks vacation on the other side of the Rhine, which always entails a short moment of hesitation, inhibition, but also a sense of adventure.

The centre of our exploration is going to be Merseburg. While the city itself is an ottonian foundation with some medieval bits left over, we are after older, much older, remains. And Merseburg is smack in the middle of it.

• Firstly the Nebra Sky Disk (Himmelsscheibe)
• The Kreisgrabenanlage von Pömmelte, which strangely enough has no English wikipedia page, anyway, think Stonehenge, but made from wood
• Goseck Circle, again, think wooden Stonehenge
• A couple of dolmen burials, most specifically DOLMENGÖTTIN LANGENEICHSTÄDT, again, German only
• And there is a gaggle of interesting museums (closed on Mondays) in the area also.

Many of these attractions are within cycling (ebike) distance of our hotel, and if I squint at the weather forecast, the weather might be holding up.

There is also a website for the whole region called Sky Paths which gives an overview of the attractions.

#history #archaeology #vacation #cycling

On the way back from Raeren I stopped at Töpfereimuseum Langerwehe which is closed for renovations. Have to come back in a year or three.

#HistoryCycle #history #photography #fotografie #steingut #steinzeugkeramik #stoneware #steengoed

Yesterday I drove to #Raeren (pronounced Raaren) to look at some (more) stoneware pottery. Specifically I went here: Töpfereimuseum Raeren

If you’re ever in the area (think Aachen) than it’s WELL worth a visit.

The museum is in a castle.

Inside a nice collection of Rhenish stoneware and on stoneware production and trade. Raeren traded via Colognes Alter Markt but also served some markets themselves. The relatively close Langerwehe produced stoneware mostly for “local” consumption, Raeren produced mostly for long distance (Hanse) trade.

While picking up some of the popular forms of Rhenish stoneware, eg Bartmann Krüge, they also developed distinctive forms.

And here one of the forms used to emboss the jugs (which were produced by the tens of thousands.

If you were a good (large) customer you got your coat of arms on the jugs, which were also used for religious (pro catholic/protestant) or political messaging. Early propaganda/advertising

#HistoryCycle #history #photography #fotografie #steingut #steinzeugkeramik #stoneware #steengoed

Tuesday, some history

We visited the LVR Landesmuseum Bonn as they have a smallish collection of Rhenish stoneware

They are also part of the Bartmann goes global project, which I’m following somewhat precariously.

Anyhow, this is what they have to say about stoneware

Paraphrasing slightly:

Rhenish stoneware, a variety of clay containers made over 400 years ago, is recognized by its shapes and images. Cups and jugs were especially popular. Rhenish stoneware was sold worldwide, making it a global phenomenon.

Potteries in Cologne, Frechen, Raeren, and Siegburg produced Rhenish stoneware. Soft clay was pressed into molds to create various images, from simple designs like flowers and coats-of-arms to scenes from the Bible or other stories. Finally, the containers were fired in kilns.

Rhenish stoneware is exhibited in museums because it was practical and beautiful. It reflects the people’s desire for both practicality and aesthetics over 400 years ago. Many objects were decorated with pictures, a common practice during that period, even among the less affluent.

I quite liked the stoneware exhibited and also the rest of the museum, well worth a visit if you are in Bonn.

Next trip to Raeren, originally I wanted to go to Brühl first, but the museum is only open on Sundays, which does not work for the next few weeks. So, Töpfereimuseum Raeren

My simple project, identify sources of mediaeval Cologne trading goods, has now evolved into a fairly large scale research project.

Everything started so well.

The first trading good I looked at was stoneware. Specifically the Bartmann Krug.

Right period, major production centres well with bicycle distance, most of the production centres even have a museum.

But, some of the information shown at the first two museums seemed to be a bit contradictory. So, as you do, I tried to find some information in books and online. Unfortunately, the publicly accessible books are broad generalist books. Online wasn’t much better. I started downloading papers, which then presented quite another challenge, namely, too much information [1].

I also stumbled across the website of a project between various research institutions called Bartmann goes global another wonderful timesink.

So, with one thing or another, I have now got a growing Obsidian vault with 250+ (and counting) documents. Which I’m now cross referencing [2]. As you do.

[1] as in, eg. Finding the downloadable archive of the Hansische Geschichtsverein, who have been publishing about the handsome, including Cologne, for the last 150 years plus.

[2] which led me to confront my lack of skill with bash and python scripts

#HistoryCycle #steingut #stoneware #steengoed #bycicle #retirement

www.zahr.koeln/2025/11/1…

In that post I visited Frechen to look at the Keramion Museum, follow the Töpferpfad and see, whatever there still is to see. I did, however, manage to miss two excavated kilns.

So, today I went back.

Here is a description of the kilns Töpferhof in der Broichgasse (in German)

The kilns are under this pyramid and since all the windows were covered with raindrops, I couldn’t photograph the inside.

Here, at least, are the signage at the site.

On my Rhenish Stoneware map the next stops should be in Badorf and Pingsdorf, both close to Brühl.

Yesterday I visited the Stadtmuseum Siegburg to pick up on the exploration of Rhenish Stoneware, one of the successful trading goods of medieval Cologne, as previously mentioned here.

Because I wasn’t awfully keen on a 80 km plus bike ride in the winter with snow on the forecast we went by car and also cleared some errands on the way to and from Siegburg.

For background on Siegburgs history, here is Wikipedia on the city.

Unfortunately photographing was not allowed, so only two pictures.

More information on Siegburger Steinzeug, German only, Wikipedia. Siegburg produced two qualities of stoneware, one for domestic consumption and traded all over the surrounding area and the Bergische Land, Wikipedia. And then there was the “good stuff” which was traded from Cologne. Cologne traders came per boat up the Rhine and the Sieg to Siegburg to collect the stoneware, also Siegburg traders brought it to the market in Cologne. From there it went all over the Baltics, Scandinavia, Netherlands and England.

And now for some gruesomeness, the top of Siegburgs pillory:

Some more stuff on salt

The Hanse and the Dutch (specifically Zeeland) traded Baiensalz (salt from the Bay de Bourgneuf, Spain and Portugal). This salt trade was possible because it was part of a larger trade network see WIKI german

During the 16th century Zeeland and especially Walcheren was important in this trade and imported, refined and then exported large quantities of salt. Some of this salt traveled over the Rhine to Cologne, where, next to salt from Lüneburg, it was used to salt fish, but also was traded directly, see Trading goods of medieval Cologne and Ventgüter

Here is a map of that flow: