Provenance Research:

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Museum
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Porzellansammlung (Dresden State Art Collections - Porcelain Collection)

Research into Nazi-confiscated cultural property in the museum's collection
In March 1991 the Dresden Porcelain Collection returned twenty-three porcelain figures to the Klemperer family. In January that year, an agreement between the museum and the family was also reached whereby a further sixty-four figures were to remain at the museum.

These objects originated in a collection of eighteenth century china built up by the Dresden banker, Gustav Klemperer Edler von Klemenau, which was confiscated after the family fled the city in 1938. It was eventually given to the state of Saxony in 1943. Most of the collection is thought to have been destroyed during the bombing of Dresden whilst in wartime storage. After earlier fruitless efforts, discussions concerning its return were renewed following German reunification and resulted in the return of a number of objects in 1991.

In 2000 additional research brought to light a further ten items from the same collection. The previous year, in February 1999, the Porcelain Collection was also able to identify eighteen objects from the collection of Israel Wolf. These objects currently remain in the Porcelain Collection. A list of both these more recent findings is on the Lost Art Internet Database (http://www.lostart.de), the German website on looted cultural property.

Research into cultural property missing from the museum
The Porcelain Collection is also undertaking research into its war-related losses. So far, it has undertaken basic research into a collection of 120 early Meissen porcelain objects. The museum has published these (with illustrations) on the Lost Art Internet Database (http://www.lostart.de) along with other missing items it has identified to date.

Contact Details
Anette Loesch
Konservatorin (Curator)
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Porzellansammlung
Sophienstraße
01067 Dresden
Tel: + 49 (0) 351 491 4622
Fax: + 49 (0) 351 491 4629
Email: ps@skd-dresden.de
www.skd-dresden.de/de/museen/porzellansammlung.html

Sources

Central Registry Archives, Correspondence, 18 November 2002

Anette Loesch, 'Das Schicksal der Kunstsammlung Gustav von Klempers', in Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste (ed.), Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligem jüdischen Besitz (Magdeburg: Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, 2001), 56-77. Text in German, Summary in English

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