From the provenance research

Here you will find articles and project reports on the topic of provenance research at the Stadtmuseum Berlin.

6 Articles on the topic From the provenance research

Die Anet-Kommode aus dem Reichsbankmöbel-Bestand des Stadtmuseums Berlin.
Stadtmuseum Berlin, Dorin Alexandru Ionita, Berlin

Anet-Commode

The Anet chest of drawers is part of the Stadtmuseum Berlin’s “Reichsbank furniture” collection. But how did this piece of French furniture end up at the Märkisches Museum, which specialises in the history of Berlin and Brandenburg? In this essay, we will provide insight into ongoing provenance research.

Article, 11 min Lesezeit

The horse’s head on the Quadriga

This horse’s head is all that remains of the original Quadriga, the sculpture that sits atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. But why did sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850) design the Quadriga in the first place? And what role did Napoleon play in it?

Article, 15 min Lesezeit

The Märkisches Museum’s “Special Silver Inventory”

Nearly five hundred silver pieces, including spoons, charm bracelets, children’s rattles and other objects, are stored in a metal cabinet in the Stadtmuseum Berlin’s collection depot. The objects originate from compulsory levies placed on Jewish people from 1939 onwards, and provide insight into a project that the Stadtmuseum Berlin has been carrying out since 1996 to clarify the provenance of each individual object.

Article, 9 min Lesezeit

Loot – 10 Stories

The Mauritshuis in The Hague is showing "Loot - 10 Stories", an art project in which the stories of objects from three epochs are brought to life with virtual reality: Art looted by French revolutionaries in 1795, everyday objects taken from Jewish forced levies from 1939 onwards, and colonial looted art. The Stadtmuseum Berlin is represented by three loans: Silver objects formerly owned by Jews, a chest of drawers from the Reichsbank furniture collection and a horse's head from the Quadriga of 1793.

Article, 5 min Lesezeit

The “Reichsbank Furniture”

They came to the Märkisches Museum as a transfer from the Ministry of Finance of the GDR in the 1950s: 47 French antiques from the 18th and 19th centuries. What does French furniture have to do with Berlin's urban history? A contribution from provenance research.

Article, min Lesezeit

Tracing „Degenerate Art“

Hans Cristof Drexel’s „Die Blumenfrau“

Article, 4 min Lesezeit