Very striking large blue faience face plaque from the collection of Professor Martin Winkler. Has a hole at the top for suspension.

Apart from the chip at the top in very fine condition.

On the back is the impresed design of the cloth the piece was laid upon before firing.

78mm

Late Period/Ptolemaic

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Martin Eduard Winkler

• Birth date: 23 December 1893, Leipzig (Germany)
• Studied one semester History, Literature, History of Art and Archaeology (Strasburg)
• Studied Culture and History (Leipzig)
• Wounded during war (fall 1915) in battle near Narew (east of Warsaw) and lost his right arm and three fingers of his left hand
• Wanted to become an Archaeologist, which was impossible due to his injuries, but studied Classical Archaeology, Egyptology and Early European History for some time
• After 1920, beginning of his habilitation on Russian History of the 19^th century
• Beginning of his interest for Early Russian Art and Cultural History
• 1924 first travel to Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg)
• Met important historians and icon-specialists during his eight subsequent visits to Russia
• 1929: Professor for Eastern European History and Director of the Historical Department of the Russian Institute in Königsberg
• 1934 lost his position due to the Nazi regime; he was not allowed to pursue his scientific work
• Because of his contacts with Russian colleagues, he was suspected of being a communist
• He publicly expressed his doubts about the Nazi regime, with consequent problems with the Gestapo
• 1939 he was forced to retire at 46 years of age
• He was forbidden to visit public libraries, and due to his war injuries manual work was impossible
• He used his private library in Berlin to finish his four volumes on Russian Cultural History which were published in 1942
• During all these years he started a private collection of Russian icons, which he was forced to sell in 1955 due to financial problems
• He wanted the pieces of his collection to remain together, and sold everything to the city of Recklinghausen, which established a museum around this collection, which today is still one of the largest and most important in Germany

Information extracted from the publication of Dr. Eva Haustein-Bartsch:  Die Ikonensammler Dr. Heinrich Wendt und Prof. Dr. Martin Winkler und die Gründung des Ikonen-Museums Recklinghausen. Bönen 2007 © Ikonen-Museum Recklinghausen und die Autorin 2007; ISBN: 978-3-939753-03-2