Candlestick

The porcelain candlestick was part of the furnishings of a private apartment of Janina Szczerska (born on 22 October 1897 in Stryj, died on 10 July 1981 in Szczecin) – founder and headmistress off the first general school in postwar Szczecin. Together with other personal objects it was donated to the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin in her will drafted in 1976. The candlestick was probably made by the factory founded in 1850 by Ernst Bohne in Volkstedt, part of the town of Rudolstadt in Thuringia, famous for producing luxury porcelain wares, including figurines and statuettes. After the founder's death, his three sons continued the business under the name Ernst Bohne Söhne. In 1919, the company was bought out by Gebruder Heubach AG in Lichte and became one of its subsidiaries. After World War II, the factory was nationalised by the authorities of the German Democratic Republic and in 1974 it merged with the Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur. It was privatised again in 1990 and resumed using its previous name – Albert Stahl & Co.

Anna Lew-Machniak