Turners of the Early Modern Period in Saxony

Saxony (Eastern Germany)

• Augustus, Elector of Saxony (1526-1586) – Augustus ruled from 1553 to 1586. He was known to have turned 135 ivory objects. His son, Christian succeeded him.
• Christian I, Elector of Saxony (1560-1591) – Christian I was known to particularly like the art of turning and was instructed by Egidius Lobenigk, the appointed court turner. During his relatively short five year reign, Christian I proved himself a distinguished collector and often gave commissions to court artists. Twenty one pieces by Lobenigk dating from 1588 to 1591 are listed in the 1595 inventory of Christian I.
• Egidius Lobenigk (d. 1595) – Lobenigk, a native of Cologne, was called by Duke Augustus to become the court turner of Dresden from 1584 to 1591, the latter part which would overlap with Georg Wecker. He produced at least 40 works, often topped with hollow polyhedron or hollow spheres. An oval lidded goblet dated 1586 by Lobenigk is currently housed in the Dresden State Art Collection. A early hollow sphere with concentric nested spheres from 1584 is preserved in the Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden. Other work can be seen at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
• Georg Wecker (Weckhardt, Weick Hardt) – Wecker worked at the Dresden court for Prince Elector Augustus, overlapping with Egidius Lobenigk, and helping make the court a strong center for the art of turning. He produced 76 pieces of work between 1588 and 1591. He was a son of the Bavarian court turner Hans Wecker and came to Saxony in 1576. Georg Wecker traveled to Prague in 1599 where his son, also named Hans, became court turner to Rudolf II. He produced various complex goblets and polyhedron.
• Hans Wecker – A pharmacy with writing utensils in ivory by Hans Wecker, Prague 1610, survives.
• Georg Friedel – Friedel created elaborate ivory goblets. He may have worked with Georg Wecker. Two of his pieces are housed in the Green Vault in Dresden.
• Pankraz Zeller – Pankraz worked as a turner at the Saxon court in Dresden from 1583. His son Jakob succeeded him (as detailed below).
• Jakob Zeller (1581-1620) – Zeller worked with Wecker and was appointed court turner and teacher of the art of turning to Christian II, Elector of Saxony in 1610, and to his successor John-George I. He created at least 23 turned and carved works. Among numerous ivory pieces that he created for the royal art collection, he produced 22 ceremonial goblets between 1613 and 1618. Several of these survive in museums today, including the Green Vault in Dresden.
• Christian II, Elector of Saxony (1583-1611) – Christian succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony in 1591 at the age of eight. Because of his youth, Duke Frederick Wilhelm I of Saxe-Weimar assumed the regency of the Electorate until 1601, when Christian was declared an adult and began to govern. In 1610 he appointed Jakob Zeller court turner.
• John George I, Elector of Saxony (1585-1656) – He succeeded to the electorate in 1611 on the death of his elder brother, Christian II. His court turner was known to be Jakob Zeller.
• Johann Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (1564-1633) – An inscription on one of Marcus Heiden's pieces signed and dated 1623-1624 (Gedeck's Cup) informed that Duke Johann Casimir also contributed. Also, an ivory goblet dated 1628 survives.
• Marcus Heiden – From 1618-1633 Heiden worked for Saxon Duke Johann Casimir at the court in Coburg. He created many of the turned works now called the the "Coburg Ivories." After the town of Coburg was pillaged in 1632, Heiden went to Eisenach to the court of the Duke's brother, Duke Johann Ernst. When Ernst died in 1638, Heiden went on to Weimar to work as court turner to Wilhelm IV Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Approximately 30 fragile and intricate ivory objects were plundered as spoils of war in Coburg in 1632, and were placed in the Florentine treasure house of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany (today called the Museo degli Argenti). These are known as "The Coburg Ivories." The Getty Museum in Los Angeles also features an ornamental turned ivory object created by Heiden. After the loss of so much work, Heiden decided to make one piece executed by himself that would serve as an example. This was produced between 1637 and 1630 during which time he also wrote a small book, printed in Coburg in 1640, in which he explains the creation of this elaborate ivory goblet followed by a description and meaning of the work with numerous biblical quotations. (A copy of this book is said to be in the regional library of Coburg.) Heiden was active until at least 1664. Many of his pieces are on display in Florence at the Museo degli Argenti in Palazzo Pitti.
• Johann Eisenberg – Eisenberg worked for Saxon Duke Johann Casimir at the court in Coburg and was a pupil of Marcus Heiden. He created many turned ivory works, now called the "The Coburg Ivories" many of which are dated 1618-1631 and on display in Florence at the Museo degli Argenti in Palazzo Pitti. His work is also in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Green Vault in Dresden. It is reported that Eisenberg was also active in Florence.
• Matthias Drejer – Several turned ivory boxes dated 1670 by Drejer survive in Copenhagen and Munich museums.
• Daniel Vading (1630-1705) – Vading was employed by the court of Berlin in 1669 through 1696. An ivory tankard preserved in Munich is perhaps the only surviving work of Vading. It was made in 1668 for the wedding of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620-1688) to his second spouse.
• Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, later King Frederick I of Prussia, (1657-1713) – The Electors of Brandenburg were famous for their turned amber, although nothing has remained other than a single ivory objet d'art with the medallion of Frederick I. This piece was presumably turned in the first decade of the 18th century.

Sources for information in this section