Peter Winkel was the first employee of Villeroy & Boch Mettlach in the golden age I was interested as collector. He was a good friend of the Mettlach modeler Jean-Baptiste Stahl and lived like him in Mettlach-Keuchingen.

By chance, I saw a beautiful, large amphora offered in an eBay auction and the seller reported very passionately about the chief painter and director of the Mettlacher drawing school . Since I was interested in the amphora and I would like to know more about the artist who painted the two bouquest of flowers on the amphora  (signature with the name " Winkel" is clearly visible on the decor, see also the picture below) before making a deal, I was looking into this person. 

Full of expectation, I hoped to find some information about this artist on the World Wide Web. But surprisingly, I found next to nothing. Even clever keyword combinations did not help much. Only a short mention on the website "Kunstlexikonsaar.de" that he should have helped with the reconstruction of the parish church of St. Lutwinus in Mettlach from 1899-1905 during the restoration.

How should it go now, I wondered? The amphora interested me, but without further information I did not want to buy it. Then I remembered a report in the club news (booklet 4/14) of the Stein club "Old Germans" ( www.altegermanen-krugsammler.de ), who reported on a person by the name of Peter Winkel. The booklet was sent to me as a sample book, because I was interested in a membership in this club at that time.

So I picked up the club news again and found a very detailed report incl. a portrait of the artist, family pictures and associated Mettlach products.

The only question left was whether the amphora was actually produced in Mettlach. Since there was no mark under the buttom, this could not be said clearly. However, Peter Winkel worked only for Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach in his life and so this assumption was very plausible.

 Born     October 4, 1866

• Birth of Peter Winkel in Wallerfangen (Germany, Saarland) as the son of the mason Peter Winkel and Anna Berger. Besides the son, the couple had a daughter

training   October 1st, 1880

• Start of apprenticeship at the earthenware factory "Villeroy & Boch" in Mettlach   and learning the basics from the mass preparation to the end product. After passing the exam, he was transferred to the decoration department of the company, which was headed by Johann Ludwig (Jean) Beck ( 1862 - 1938 ).
• Voluntary visit to the company's drawing school and further education at the Munich Academy and / or Royal Art and Crafts School Munich. This school visit can not be clearly documented. An archive entry in Mettlach describes him as a painter of the "old Munich school" and suggests this.

Unfortunately, there are only a few signed decor templates for the PUG or hand-painted items (steins, wall plaques, bowls, beer taps, ...) from the top painter of Mettlach stoneware company "Peter Winkel" and thus can be certain designs also not sure assigned, expecially decors which were created by him before 1900 .

After 1900 , however, he had apparently been allowed to apply his signature inconspicuously on the products decorated by him.