The Chinese Art Collections of Ernst Ohlmer and Max von Brandt. A Contribution to the History of Collecting by two German Collectors in Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic China (1875–1914)

The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum (RPM) is a multi-disciplinary museum which houses an ethnological collection of around 12,000 objects. This includes a collection of Chinese porcelains comprising more than 350 pieces. The museum owes a large part of these to Ernst Ohlmer (1847–1927). He was an employee of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service from 1868 to 1914.

The Ohlmer collection is one of the most important of its kind in Europe, as the porcelains come predominantly from the production of the imperial workshops. According to his own account, Ohlmer took over part of these porcelains, namely the 140 blue and white ones, from Max von Brandt (1835-1920), who was the Imperial German envoy to China from 1875 to 1893 and as such resided in Beijing. According to Ohlmer, he and von Brandt gathered their collections in Beijing between 1872 and 1880. These porcelains, 291 in all, which were in the Roemer Museum’s holdings in 1898, were the subject of the project.

Due to the destabilisation of the Chinese Empire (Opium Wars 1839-1842 as well as 1856-1860, looting of the Summer Palace in 1860 and sale of objects by soldiers, Taiping Rebellion 1850 to ca. 1864), conditions were good for European/German collectors. The study investigated whether these circumstances favoured Ohlmer’s and von Brandt’s collecting activities, and whether any clues at all can be found about the acquisition circumstances of their collections.

The project did not reveal any unquestionable evidence that Ohlmer and von Brandt profited from the looting of the Summer Palace. A Europe-wide search in inventory databases of museums showed that almost identical pieces exist everywhere. Therefore, despite the high quality, the Ohlmer collection does not contain any unique pieces. Comparable pieces still appear in the trade and auctions today, e.g. from estate sales. The collectors’ market obviously offered and still offers a larger number of identical items. This is certainly related to the fact that some porcelains were produced in very large numbers in the imperial workshops.

© Roemer- und Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim.