A set of precious Meissen porcelain was smuggled out of Vienna after its Jewish owners were forced to flee the Nazis. It was later purchased by Hitler and then found in the salt mines by the Nazis. “Monument Man”, Will be auctioned in New York next month.
An extraordinary journey on the 18th——The works of the century reflecting the turmoil of the Second World War were rebuilt by art historians and compensation lawyers before being auctioned by the international auction house Sotheby’s.
Highlights include 1727 Meissen Mantel Clock Case Made for the former Elector of Saxony and King Augustus of Poland. It is considered to be one of the most exquisite porcelain sculptures of the time. There is also a pair of Augustus Rex railing vases with dark yellow tones and leaf-shaped swirls. Reflects the hobbies of their owners Chinese style.
These 117 artifacts represent only a quarter of the entire collection of Hamburg lawyer Franz Oppenheimer and his Viennese wife Margarethe in the early 20th centuryThe century, which was recently returned to their heirs, sought to return their works from the Reijksmuseum, Kunstmuseum Den Haag in Amsterdam and the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam, where they have been exhibited for more than 60 years.
Potential buyers interested in these works are expected to sell for more than US$2 million (£1.46 million), including museums, individual collectors and distributors, and art connoisseurs who are not very interested in porcelain, but are interested in the surroundings. Interested in dazzling stories. Pieces.
“Of course, it is not just fine porcelain with perfect provenance that attracts the interest of potential buyers,” said Lucian Simmons, global head of Sotheby’s compensation department.
“Many people are attracted by the story behind them. This is a wonderful time capsule. For me, retelling it is undoubtedly one of the most exciting aspects of doing this work.”
The Oppenheim family’s wealth was built on the Silesian coal mines. They were once a member of the Berlin collector’s community. They lived in an apartment near Tiergarten Park.
“They are really enthusiastic, collecting things they like with weed collectors, including very important masterpieces from 200 years ago, which were provided when Dresden’s great royal collection was taken apart,” Simmons Say. In 1927, like serious collectors, they commissioned a leading museum curator to create a private catalog of their collection.
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, they were persecuted because of Franz Oppenheimer’s Jewish ancestry, and in December 1936 were forced to flee to relatively safe Vienna. They paid a punitive flight tax to the Nazi government and were able to carry some Meissen porcelain in crates.More than a year later, they managed to escape to Budapest with only hand luggage, just the day before the German army entered Austria Adolf Hitler announced its merger with Germany.
They travelled from Hungary to New York via Sweden and Colombia, and arrived in New York in December 1941. By then, their wealth had shrunk because another immigration tax was the price of leaving Austria.By then, the couple were in their 60s and had spent the rest of their lives in a humble apartment at East 86.Manhattan streets.
During this period, it is not clear what happened to their porcelain. But it is likely that the Oppenheims arranged to smuggle it out of Vienna, and a large part of it was eventually taken care of by another collector, Fritz Mannheimer, who is a German. He was smuggled out of Vienna in 2017. The Amsterdam branch of Mendelssohn Bank was established in Berlin. In 1920, he was an active opponent of the Nazis.
Rear Crystal night In November 1938, the bank was closed by the Nazis, Mannheimer was forced to go bankrupt and suffered a heart attack in August 1939.
A member of Hitler’s SS (Nazi paramilitary organization) seized the opportunity to liquidate the remaining assets, including his large art collection, and he bought the Nazi SS including Oppenheim for the so-called Nazi SS. Collections including porcelain of the Mur family. Guided Museum, A vanity project that turned the Austrian city of Linz into the cultural capital of Nazi Germany, but it was never realized.
In order to protect Hitler’s artworks from Allied bombing, the Meissen items originally owned by Oppenheim were transferred to the cellar of the Bohemian monastery for safekeeping, and later transferred to the salt mine in Bad Aussee in the Austrian Alps.It was later retrieved by the Allied curator and art history expert group. Their mission was to rescue cultural property that was stolen, lost or hidden during and after the war, nicknamed “Monument Man”. 2014 movie starring George Clooney.
Meissen was ultimately owned by the Dutch state until the Dutch Restitution Committee accepted the return to the heirs of the Oppenheimer family earlier this year.
Simmons said that one of the most surprising aspects of the Odyssey of these artifacts is that they remain intact: “Porcelain is a tough substance, but it is incredible that these intricate works can be kept in such a perfect state. After all, they are repeatedly packed and unpacked, placed in monasteries and mines, and then transported by military trucks along the roads of the Alps. They have been on a huge and extraordinary road trip.”
Simmons said that before the live auction a week later, a public exhibition of these works will open at Sotheby’s in New York on September 7. This is also an opportunity to reflect on the lives of the Oppenheimers.
“It provides us with a window into the life of Berlin connoisseurs at the turn of the century,” he said. “This story is not just a vase, a bowl, or a clock, but it embodies the European history of the 20th century. These works are the legacy of this very respected elderly couple whose lives have been ruined otherwise. Forgotten.”
