Basel Historical Museum has a collection comprising over 250,000 objects. A selection of these is presented here.
The scientists, scholars and collectors of the 16th century and thereafter kept Wunderkammer full of spectacular objects and works of art. Among the treasures presented are some that originally belonged to the world-famous Amerbach Cabinet.
Basle, after 1270 – Silver and copper, embossed, engraved, gilded – height 49 cm – Inv. 1882.87.
Of all the different forms of reliquary, the head or bust reliquary is particularly …
Basle, ca. 1468 – Wool tapestry, two sections each height 123-128.5 cm, width 253 cm – Inv. 1981.88.
The purchase of this tapestry from a South German collection for the 1981 reopening of the …
Anton Graff, Basle, ca. 1786 – Oil on canvas – 114.5 x 84 cm – Inv. 1976.175.
J.R. Burckhardt (1750-1813) was by profession a silk ribbon manufacturer and from 1777 held …
Mechelen, dated 1474 – Jean de Malines, Mechelen Cast bronze – length 255.5 cm, calibre 22.8 cm – Inv. 1874.95.
The Basle chronicler Johannes Knebel reports that on 14 March 1476 the Basle troops brought …
Strasbourg, Paul Hannong, numbered on glaze I and 2, 1748 54 – Faience with painting on glaze in enamel colours – height 32.5 and 36.5 cm – Inv. 1973.76.
The Paul Hannong factory owed its success to its policy of employing potters, painters and …
Joachim Tielke, Hamburg, ca. 1708 – Six strings, top spruce, sides and back maple, edges reinforced with ivory, two C-shaped sound holes, fingerboard and tailpiece adorned with tortoiseshell and ivory marquetry – L (incl. neck) 119.4 cm, L (corpus only) 68.4 cm – Inv. 1872.65.
Joachim Tielke (born 1641 in Königsberg, died 1719 in Hamburg) ranks among northern …
(Antwerp?), 1572 – At quint or octave pitch; compass C/E-a2 (without g#2) Case made of poplar painted in tempera; softwood soundboard; keytops made of bone (white keys) and bog oak (sharps); brass and steel strings – H. 17.9 x W 92.5 x D 33 cm – Inv. 1990.426.
That this instrument, which the people of Basel used to called a Spinet, is Flemish in …
Basel, 1575 – Frame made of wood painted in tempera, seven concentrically positioned sound holes on the side, two wooden tensioning hoops, skins rope-tensioned with 8 iron hooks, knotted leather strap, goatskin head – H 64 cm (head), dia. 51 cm – Inv. 1874.120. – Deposit of the Basler Zeughaus
Among the museum’s collection of 150 drums are the oldest ones still in existence, dated …
Dated 1512; workshop of Ivo Strigel, Christoph Zeller and other masters, Memmingen – Linden wood, carved and painted, panel painting – H 375 cm, W 567 cm (open) Inv. 1887.95.
Mounted on a predella showing Christ with the twelve Apostles, the open altar chest …
Geneva, ca. 1820 – Bordier à Genève, active in 19th century – Movement with verge escapement and quarter repeater with ding-dong chimes; hour and minute hands – Inv. 1982.1093.
This watch in a red gold case has a glass window in the lid showing the movement with …
Basel Historical Museum
Management & administration
Steinenberg 4
PO box
CH – 4001 Basel
Reception: +41 61 205 86 00
Message: +41 61 205 86 02
historisches.museum(at)bs.ch