New addition to the temporary presentations display:

Porcelain history from building rubble: the archaeological excavation at Kilchberg-Schooren (canton Zurich)

The factories at Schooren can look back on a 150-year history: from the first days of porcelain manufacture in Switzerland in the second half of the 18th century, to the beginning of the 20th century. From 1919 to 2002 the former factory buildings served as a private country residence, before being demolished (on 12 October 2002) to make way for a new building project. Remains that were found at the site were examined by the archaeological department of canton Zurich between February and June 2003.

Although the factory buildings were demolished, it was to a certain extent possible to document their earlier architectural development. Pictures of the site dating from the 18th century show that the lake shore originally extended right up to the factory buildings. The reason for the subsequent change to this feature of the landscape became apparent at the beginning of the archaeological excavation work: The banks of the lake adjacent to the factory had been gradually extended by filled the area with building rubble and production waste – providing a veritable treasure trove for the archaeologist. The investigation focussed on a relatively well-preserved 19th century kiln house with four kilns, and production waste found in the garden area, which could be retrieved by using an excavator to create cross sections.

Most of the material recovered consisted of technical equipment, semi-finished products and misfired pottery, all of which provided important insights into production processes. A wide variety of different forms of crockery were brought to light, predominantly common tableware made from porcelain, faience and earthenware, as well as brown-glazed items. Little was recovered that dated back to the 18th century – only a few fragments of multi-coloured vessels and porcelain figures. However, the range of the products manufactured here must have been significantly more diverse. We get a different picture from an archaeological investigation of a factory than we do from museum collections, which present predominantly showpieces.

Of the material relating to 19th century production, the best preserved is that found in the four kilns from the kiln house. These were filled with production waste after the kilns had gone out of use. Thus, as well as technical ceramics, plaster moulds and stencils, which provided vital clues on technical aspects of production, numerous pieces of misfired pottery bore witness to all phases of the site’s production between the first and final quarters of the 19th century.