Inspired by collecting: The Dr Ernst Schneider Collection of Meissen porcelain at Lustheim Castle

Dr. Katharina Hantschmann

The collector Dr. Ernst Schneider (1900 - 1977) was one of the leading industrialists of the young German Federal Republic. After World War II he moved from Saxony to Düsseldorf, where he was president of the Chamber of Commerce, highly respected by politicians and economists. On several occasions he mentioned that without collecting he would not have been so successful in his work and that he gathered his energy by studying and handling his porcelain. He was co-founder and treasurer of the Society of German Ceramic Friends and its well reputed journal “Keramos”.

In 1968 he donated the greatest part of his porcelain collection with more than 2000 pieces to the Bavarian State. His prerequisite for exhibiting the collection in a Baroque palace was fulfilled by placing the collection in Lustheim Castle which is situated outside Munich. The castle was built by the Bavarian Elector Max Emanuel between 1684 and 1689. This famous collection of early Meissen porcelain ranks second only to the Zwinger in Dresden.

The lecture will discuss highlights and some of the most interesting pieces of the collection, such as several of the most precious items painted with Chinese scenes by Johann Gregorius Höroldt, animal figures by the sculptor Johann Joachim Kaendler and the Indian centrepiece of Count Brühl.