460 - Villeroy & Boch Mettlach beer stein with tavern scene, pewter lid, circa 1900, and two tobacco pipes

Villeroy & Boch Mettlach beer stein with tavern scene, pewter lid, circa 1900, and two tobacco pipes Ceramic and pewter, beer stein, Villeroy & Boch, Mettlach, circa 1900, capacity 0.5 l. Cylindrical form with handle, cream glazed, with coloured transfer-printed decor under the glaze, the front with a tavern scene: three men in historical costume around a barrel serving as a table, on the left a pipe smoker with blue cap and yellow waistcoat, in the centre a man with black beret and brown coat, on the right a man in red coat raising his glass, a filled glass on the barrel, tiled floor below. On the back a scroll in Fraktur script "Hier liebt man nicht Zank u Streit / Sondern nur Gemüthlichkeit!". Interior white glazed. Flat, stepped pewter lid with ball thumb piece. Marked underneath, the blue stamped plaque mark "V.B. 602. GESCHÜTZT" with the decor number, the impressed model number "1526", also impressed "19" and "52". With two long tobacco pipes with brown stems, stamped "BRUYERE" and "GARANTIE": 1) bulbous bowl with silver-coloured ferrule, a cord with tassel on the stem, L. 46 cm; 2) bowl with flared rim and broad silver-coloured ferrule, L. 35 cm. Stein in good condition, pipes in good used condition and smoked in. H. stein 14.5 cm. 360-degree photo available on our website. Villeroy & Boch goes back to the earthenware manufactory founded in 1809 by Jean François Boch in the former Benedictine abbey of Mettlach; in 1836 the works in Mettlach and Wallerfangen merged to form the company Villeroy & Boch. The years between 1885 and 1910 are regarded as the heyday of Mettlach stoneware art, when, alongside the elaborate Chromolith steins, the less expensive steins with printed and hand-coloured decor were also made. Decor number 602 bears the title "Drinking Companions" and belongs to the tavern scenes among these printed decors. The addition "GESCHÜTZT" in the plaque mark indicates a decor protected by copyright. The fire at the Mettlach works on the night of 11 to 12 August 1921 destroyed moulds and records; stein production was only resumed in the 1970s.