Selheim, Claudia (Hrsg.) Mikrowelten Zinnfiguren. The Alfred R. Sulzer Collection

Catalogue for the exhibition at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 9 May 2024 to 26 January 2025.

The Germanisches Nationalmuseum's toy collection has received a remarkable addition: The high-quality Alfred R. Sulzer pewter figure collection with around 145,000 pieces. To pay due tribute to this collection, highlights from it are presented in an exhibition and generously illustrated catalogue. Contrary to expectations, it is not just the pewter soldier that is on show. Scenes from everyday bourgeois life in the Biedermeier and Historicist periods, from literature and from the world of the aristocracy reflect media events and aspects of cultural history. Nuremberg and Fürth are among the main production centres from which the mass-produced figurines conquered the (inter)national market. In 14 essays, the authors embark on a journey through the multifaceted cosmos of pewter figurines and show how they were used to present contemporary history to children: The toys provide exciting insights into the contradictory and rapidly changing worlds of the 19th century on the way to the globalised modern age.

Table of contents

Foreword - Daniel Hess

Change of location. The Alfred R. Sulzer pewter figure collection on its way to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum - Claudia Selheim

Reunited. The Körting Collection in the
Sulzer Collection - Martin Schabenstiel

Theodor Hampe and "The Tin Soldier". A museum director and his standard work - Claudia Selheim

From raw metal to figure. Technology and social issues - Sabine Tiedtke

Nuremberg and Fürth. Centres of the worldwide tin figure trade - Marion Faber

Play witnesses. Factual and lively - Claudia Selheim

Look and touch. Pewter figures as educational and teaching aids - Christin Fleige

Pleasure from the box. Bourgeois entertainment and festive culture in small format - Christin Fleige

The pewter figure in an iron dress. Chivalry between Romanticism and Historicism - Martin Schabenstiel

"A terrible murder". On the reception of the game with tin soldiers - Susanne Thürigen

Distant wars. Colonial conflicts in the mirror of the
pewter figure - Martin Schabenstiel

Playing empire with pewter figures. Colonial propaganda in miniature format - Jeff Bowersox / Joachim Zeller

Majesties in pewter and lead. On the depiction of major royal events - Thomas Aufleger
Digression

Playing with fame. The myth of Napoleon in paper and papier-mâché - Martin Schabenstiel