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Thurnau pottery tradition

Potters can be traced in sources in Thurnau since 1579. Under the rule of the Counts of Giech, Thurnau developed into a place with a flourishing trade. In addition to bookbinders, hat makers and gunsmiths, there was always at least one potter who made tableware for regional use.

From the second half of the 18th century, the number of potters working simultaneously increased. There were four local potters in 1800. In 1870, the upward trend reached its peak with eight workshops. The reason is to be found in the expansion of transport routes. They allowed the potters to sell their wares in more distant places too. Thurnau's pottery had a very good reputation. At times, sales were so high that the workshops could hardly keep up with production. Between 1852 and 1885, for example, the Pittrof pottery turned over goods worth 3,500 guilders a year and employed 12 journeymen.

The main products were tableware: simple earthenware for the kitchen, stable and field. Initially glazed in one colour, also decorated using the slip trailer from the 19th century. Milk pots, pots and pans, jugs, bowls or storage containers were made. The potters also created special shapes such as "Hosnbrodnpfanna" – roast hare pans – or "Erbeshofen" – pea pots for sieving or straining softly cooked fruit or vegetables.

The Thurnau potteries were, as stipulated in the guild and trade regulations, run by a master craftsman who employed journeymen and trained apprentices. Usually the oldest son of the master potter learned the craft and took over the workshop. They often remained in family ownership for generations. The Pittrof and Freund potteries were run for almost 150 years, the Spielbühler pottery for 218 years, and the Renner pottery has existed since 1884.

The potteries' economic situation began to deteriorate around the turn of the century. Industrially produced, uniform stoneware was preferred by many, while at the same time porcelain and enamel tableware became affordable for the rural population. Thurnau potters had to record a major slump in sales. Many workshops finally gave up with the economic crisis around 1930. Only two potteries, the Spielbühler pottery and the Renner pottery, survived. The pottery trade did not recover again until Günther Stüdemann moved there in 1939. He succeeded in giving new and crucial inspiration to the craft; his ceramics mark the transition from craft to handicraft.

Not only did an innovative ceramist come to the town with Günther Stüdemann but also a passionate collector of Thurnau pottery. On the occasion of the Bavarian potters' conference in Thurnau in 1974, these objects were first exhibited in the association college's assembly hall. They form the basis of the pottery museum that was planned and opened in 1982. Housed in the village's former Latin school, a multi-storey Renaissance building adjacent to Thurnau Castle, the collection was steadily expanded in the following years. Today, the museum contains about 5,000 ceramics.

The part collections of "Thurnau pottery tradition" available on bavarikon

>> This collection is part of the holdings the Töpfermuseum Thurnau.