Vintage, Schneider, Art Pottery, Marburg, West Germany, Wall retailer Hanging, German, Folk Art, Pottery, Slipware, Hand Painted, Handmade, Bowl

Here, we bring to market a beautiful handmade, and hand painted piece of German Folk Art pottery. Manufactured by Schneider Pottery of Marburg, West Germany. Schneider has been in business from 1809 to the present. My best guess dates this piece to probably the 50's, maybe a little earlier. This is one of over 50 pieces that I was lucky enough to purchase. Do keep in mind, you are purchasing only the one piece shown in photo #1. Our last 4 photos are merely pictures of the entire collection we purchased. This piece, is in wonderful condition, keeping in mind it was a utilitarian piece of pottery. We do find typical wear and tear, showing chafing/flaking in a place or two. Hand painted in beautiful earth tones of brown, rust, green, and an off white. It measures 8-1/4" in diameter, and rises 2-5/16" from the table top. From the Schneider website, we offer the following: More than 400 years ago, the master tanner, Peter Schneider, moved from Lixfeld near Dillenburg to the Marburg district of Weidenhausen, where the tanning trade has always been based. The Schneiders stayed true to this craft for five generations, but then looked for a livelihood in the wagon business, because the two most important trades in Marburg, tanning and pottery, offered the wagoners a good basis for their livelihood at that time. The tanned skins and the baked pottery, widely known as “Marburg dishes”, had to be transported out into the country. His descendants continued this line of business, but his grandson Johann Heinrich Schneider became an art potter in April 1809, over 200 years ago, during the Napoleonic era. He had seen from the father and the older brother what Marburg dishes were being packed on the harnesses. That probably aroused the desire to be active in this beautiful handicraft. Right from the start, he enjoyed shaping lumps of clay with a practiced hand on the potter's wheel into “Marburger Dipperchen”, which were then decorated, dried and fired before finally wandering off into the distance. The pits of the Ebsdorfer Grund provided good sound, and firewood was available in the surrounding forests. The chimneys smoked on the Ketzerbach and between the tanner's workshops in Weidenhausen. Master potter Johann Heinrich Schneider also settled there after he married Catherina Berdux in 1819. Like the wives of the successors, she helped to ensure that Schneider's pottery gained its special reputation. While the clay preparation, shaping and firing was a man's work, women's hands have always proven themselves to be excellent in decorating. Two sons grew up. Bernhard and Ludwig Schneider . They learned the varied arts and crafts in their father's business. When they had achieved the title of master in 1850, they went into business for themselves, Bernhard in Weidenhausen and Ludwig am Steinweg. The company's founder, Johann Heinrich, died in 1876, but the sons 'potters' wheels continued to turn, although many of the 40 former Marburg potteries fell victim to the enamel trend. The artisanal pottery could not keep up with the industrial mass-produced goods with the best of will. But the Schneiders deliberately cultivated pottery as a handicraft, the preservation of old German folk art. This gave their company the stability and upward development, especially since after the turn of the retailer century a sense of real arts and crafts was awakened again and the sons Heinrich Wilhelm and John continued the pottery tradition. John Schneider in particular was trend-setting here. He settled down on Steinweg, built the well-known “Marburger Töpferhaus” (Steinweg 8) and the workshop on the slope behind it where there had been an old pottery workshop. What went out into the world from there has ensured that the “Marburg dishes” are particularly valued. It was also John Schneider who knew how to present his products in a particularly elegant way at important trade exhibitions (the great arts and crafts exhibition in Kassel 100 years ago and exhibitions in Fulda, Gießen and many other places). Heinz Schneider, the son of John Schneider, took over the art pottery business in 1938, whereby he knew how to adapt himself to the present through various technical innovations and modern sales methods. His permanent exhibitions at the Leipzig and Frankfurt Fair used to bear witness to this. What remained, however, was the solid foundation laid by the great-grandfather: the striving to bring craft and art into harmony! After thorough training at the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt and passing the master craftsman's examination in 1954, Gustav Schneider worked in the fifth generation of the Schneider family in the family business, from which so much emerges that has now reinforced the old fame of "Marburg dishes". Today it is not the quantity but the quality that is decisive. So he took over the workshop after his father's death in 1971. After extensive apprenticeship as a journeyman in his father's company and two years of schooling at the "State College for Ceramics" in Landshut, his son Manfred Schneider completed his master's examination as a ceramist in 1982. In 1996 he took over the business in the sixth generation and has continued the traditional craft ever since.