COLLECTION HILPERT

Johann Gottfried Hilpert

Johann Gottfried Hilpert (1732-1801) a pewterer from Coburg established himself in 1753 in Nürnberg. In 1760 he became a master craftsmen. Till his death he worked together with his brother Johann Georg in his own tin workshop at the Oberen Bergauer Platz 8, in Nürnberg. In the next generation Johann Wolgang Hilpert (1763-1800), the son of Johann Gottfried, also learned the trade. Eleonore Maria, his sister, probably worked in the workshop too, to remove flash from the figures , to paint and may be as engraver. All figures engraved from the end of the decennium 1770-1780 might be hers, from her brother or from her uncle. The figures before this date are from Johann Gottfried.

Hilpert sold as one of the first , in the last quarter of the 18th century, "tin figures in boxes" like furniture, animals, sheep meadows, hunting party, cattle meadows, soldiers on foot and on horse back, and so on . At first pewterers made tin figures mainly as a secondary production next to their tableware and hollowware manufacture. However they followed when tin figure manufacturing went to show a succes. Nürnberg was the town where one made the finest tin figures.

 

A well known series of Hilpert is his collection of apes and monkeys which are on display in our museum, together with several other Hilpert figures.

Chimpansee

The tin figures of the apes were based on a series of engravings from 1775. beneath you see an example of the original engraving of a barbary macaque and the tin figure made of it by Hilpert.