The Path of the First European Porcelain Wares to Lithuanian Museums

Abstract

The state’s development, twists and turns of culture and history of the country, circumstances and passing time, often erase facts, that is why the reconstruction of the history of exhibits’ acquisition in museums is one of the most complicated aspects in museology. The article is dedicated to the presentation of Johann Friedrich Böttger’s (1682-1719) collection of red stone mass exhibits in Lithuanian museums and aims at revealing their history. Thanks to the archival register, it was possi­ble to discover the inventory lists with descriptions of valuable works of art that had been prevented from being seized by Germans and pre­served during the Soviet occupation. Among them, there were exhib­its stored at the M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. Particularly valuable are twelve items of red stone mass by J.F. Böttger. Their iden­tification revealed not only the date (1940) and the manor (the Pakruo­jis manor, Šiauliai region, Lithuania) from which the nationalized art collection was transferred to the museum but also to whom [Leo Carl von der Ropp (27.09.1860 Pakruojis – 09.10.1940 Berlin)] it belonged. That is how the history of J.F. Böttger’s red stoneware exhibits has been unveiled. The Lithuanian Art Museum purchased two exhibits from private persons (1980 and 1982).