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.
Discover further Swiss museum collections at Museums Online.
Probably Basle, ca. 1820/30 – Forged iron, cast bronze – length 17.5 cm – Inv. 1909.257.
Keys are not merely instruments for locking, but often also symbolic. To have the key is to …
Johannes Linder I, Basle, 1638 – Cast pewter, soldered – height 42 cm – Inv. 1875.29.
The guild and corporation vessels documented since the C15 can be classified neither as …
Left: Strasbourg, Paul Hannong, ca. 1750 – right: Emanuel J. Streckeisen, Basle, ca. 1800 – Faience, overglaze painting, height 20.7 cm – pewter, height 18.8 cm – Inv. 1988.211. – Inv. 1895.66.
In times of shortage traditional utensils of silver or vermeil were replaced by cheaper …
dated 1516 – Master G.F.(?), Alsace – Cast iron – height 81 cm, width 91.5 cm – Inv. 1875.75.
The plate has an important place in research due to the initials G.F. on the banderole. …
Berne(?), without marks, ca. 1500 – Cast pewter, soldered – height without handle 44 cm – Inv. 1885.118.
Pitchers accounted for most of the output of the pewterer's trade. Evidence of this is the …
1st half 16th century – Brass, hammered, embossed and punched – diameter 27.5 cm – Inv. 1870.998.
The oldest brass dishes are without ornament. Only when they were used as baptism or …
Jörg von Guntheim, Basle, 1493 – Cast bronze – height 31.6 cm, width I6.3 cm, depth 5cm – Inv. 1873.55.
On 25 June 1439 the Council of Basle deposed Pope Eugene IV and on 5 November of the same …
17th century; Forged iron, blued – cast brass, cut, engraved – height with shackle 15 cm, width 8.5 cm, depth 4.5 cm – Inv. 1883.50.
Locks not fixed to a base and including a shackle are called padlocks; their great …
dated 1689 Probably Basle – Beaten copper – height 34 cm, length 67 cm, width 34cm – Inv. 1904.2331.
Guild members' duties went far beyond the activity specific to their trade. The guilds in …
Indistinct marks, 17th century(?) Cast pewter, soldered – tank height 28.3 cm, width 25 cm, depth 16 cm – washbasin height 20.5 cm, width 31 cm, depth 24.3 cm – Inv. 1906.2875.
Pewter water containers in the form of casks with handbasins were almost indispensable …
dated 1519 – Meister G.F.(?), Alsace – Cast iron – height 81 cm, width 91.5 cm – Inv. 1965.34.
Usually richly decorated, cast iron plates were a necessary part of the iron stoves that …
dated 1685 – Jakob Roth and Hans Heinrich Weitnauer II, Basle – Cast bronze – diameter 95 cm, height 82 cm – pitches G+27; +4; +7; +27; B'+ 20; D"+1; +28; Inv. 1962.63.
In the first half of the C16 the output of Basle bell founders was relatively small; it …
signed and dated 1757 – Basle, Johann Friedrich Weitnauer Cast bronze – height 165 cm, width 39 cm, depth 39cm – Inv. 1921.283.
The building of the Rhine bridge at Basle, completed in 1226, was an important precondition …
Basle, Meister H, 2nd half 14th century – Cast pewter, soldered, engraved – height 27 cm – Inv.1870.443.c.
This pot and two others of the same shape and with a similar spout form a trio of …
Unknown master, 18th century – Cast pewter, soldered, engraved – height 34 cm – Inv. 1893.336.
The Church always preferred sacred vessels made of precious metals, but approved the used …
dated 1650 – Hans Heinrich Weitnauer I, Basle – Cast bronze, turned, punched – height 26.5 cm, diameter of top 31.8 cm – Inv. 1879.19.
Although the mortar was known in antiquity, none made north of the Alps is known until the …
dated 1938 – Hans Frei, Basle – Cast pewter – diameter 28.8 cm – Inv. 1939.926.
Pewter ware for display purposes is now the most familiar form in which tin appears. Modern …
Niklaus Uebelin II, Basle, 1st half 18th century – Cast pewter, soldered, engraved – height 8.8 cm, diameter 19.7 cm – Inv.1907.381
From the C17 to the C19 pewter dishes and bowls of various shapes were in common use in …
Signed Philipp Soldan zum Frankenburg Hessen, ca. 1550 – Cast iron – height 71.5 cm, width 85 cm – Inv. 1930.137.
Patterns for the reliefs on stove plates were made by cutters ('Formschneider') or carvers …
Mould: Caspar Fnderlein – cast: Hans Sigmund Geisser, Nuremberg, 2nd half 17th century – Cast pewter – diameter 46.5 cm – Inv.1899.195.
The plate shown is an important example of the relief pewter production concentrated in …
Ca. 1600 – Iron, punched, blued – height 22.5 cm, width 28.3 cm, depth 4.6 cm – Inv.1914.154.
In the C14 and C15 the urban artisanate and middle class enjoyed a rise in their economic …
dated 1745 – Cast iron – height 135.5 cm, width 124.5 cm – Inv. 1896.100.a.
The stove plate was given to the Museum with a second, identical plate by the Basle city …
dated 1699 – Iron, brass openwork décor, engraving – H 15 cm, L 16.5 cm, W 8.2 cm – Inv. 1890.54.
Irons can be used either to smooth cloth or to create folds – or even, as one women’s …
Basel, 11th century – Cast bronze – Dia. 41 cm – Crown and crown plate not original, clapper missing – Inv. 1907.289.
This bell exhibits all the characteristics of the cast bells described by Theophilus …
Basel, ca. 1900 – Manufacturer: Riggenbach Werkstätten für Kunstgewerbe – Inv. 2017.370.
This ewer, which with its long neck and beak-like pourer looks rather like a bird, was made …
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