Countess Wilhelmina von Hallwyl and her Chinese Treasures

Rose Kerr

The little-known Hallwyl collection is housed in a Swedish National Museum in Stockholm, and comprises a cornucopia of paintings, furniture, silver and ceramics. Among the ceramics are more than 1,000 Chinese and Japanese pieces, collected between 1879 and 1930 by a discerning and wealthy woman. Countess Wilhelmina von Hallwyl patronised the auction houses and dealers of Europe and became a member of the “Karlbeck syndicate”. In the 1920s, this pan-European group of collectors engaged Swedish engineer Orvar Karlbeck to purchase objects in China. Thus the Hallwyl Collection encompasses both fine porcelain from old European collections, and archaeological ceramics from China.