Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Works which came to Dresden as
part of Hitler’s “special Commission:
Linz”: Caspar David Friedrich, Design
for an altarpiece: Cross in the
Mountains, Kupferstich-Kabinett
From the collection belonging
to Otto Horn: Margrave
Dietrich the Hard-Pressed, …
the collection of the Meissen wine dealer Otto Horn, who
died in 1945. His collection, which incorporates more than
45,000 numismatic objects, has been held in the Münzkabinett
for the past 40 years. As part of the settlement
between the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen and the Otto
and Emma Horn Foundation, the purchase of a large
number of particularly important items was agreed, ensuring
that they will continue to be publicly accessible.
All these cases concerned works of art which, for a variety
of reasons, could not – from a present­day point of view
– be simply left in the collections. On the other hand, there
are still tens of thousands of items which have been missing
from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden since
the end of the Second World War. This is also a field of
investigation for provenance researchers. However, a
great deal of perseverance is necessary since the legal
situation (particularly with regard to statutes of limitations
and purchases made in good faith) and political
conditions in countries where items from the museums
are thought to be held do not seem to be favourable to the
possibility of their return. It is regarded as a success that
through contact with two Ukrainian museums it has been
determined beyond doubt that paintings are held there
which were previously considered war losses. The Dresden
Porzellansammlung regained two very valuable Meissen
porcelain vases known as “Turmzimmervasen” (‘towerroom
vases’). These two works were produced during the
heyday of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, in about
1730. After they were evacuated for safekeeping during
the war in 1941, all trace of them was lost. In 2008, one of
… Johann Leonhard Oexlein, Medal commemorating the Treaty
of Hubertusburg, 1763 (obverse and reverse)
these vases was offered for sale to a third party by a private
collector who was unaware of their provenance. Negotiations
with the seller led to an amicable agreement in
2010. The second vase also returned in 2010, having been
donated by a private collector. Another war loss is set to
return to Dresden in the near future: the figure of a
Nereid, a precious porcelain table decoration from the
legendary Swan Service belonging to Count Heinrich von
Brühl, has been found in the USA. It had been on loan to
the Porzellansammlung from the von Brühl family since
1920 and at the end of the war it disappeared (probably as
a result of theft). It was then purchased, via two art dealers,
by the Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. Now that Dr.
Ulrich Pietsch, Director of the Dresden Porzellansammlung,
has ascertained the identity of the Nereid, the American
authorities are making preparations for its return.
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