Jakob Ziegler-Pellis, painted by Hans Conrad Hitz, 1837.
Jakob Ziegler-Pellis, painted by Hans Conrad Hitz, 1837. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, collection of the Sturzenegger-Stiftung

Jakob Ziegler: industrial pioneer and self-made man

Winterthur native Jakob Ziegler (1775–1863) is one of Switzerland’s most remarkable industrial pioneers, and is of great importance to the industrial heritage of the Schaffhausen region.

Daniel Grütter

Daniel Grütter

Daniel Grütter is a historian and curator at the Museum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen.

From 1828 Jakob Ziegler took on the tenancy of the Ziegelhütte tile factory in Schaffhausen, city-owned works that had become mired in financial difficulty. He went on to set up factory buildings on both the Schaffhausen and Zurich banks of the Rhine, as well as facilities to harness the power of the river. For 145 years, up to 1973, the resulting Ziegler ceramics factory was one of the most important companies in the Swiss ceramics and pottery sector. Born on 23 July 1775 in Winterthur, as the son of Johann Heinrich Ziegler (1738–1818) and Verena Biedermann (1734–1801), Jakob grew up with two sisters in a wealthy and respected family. They belonged to the upper echelons of Winterthur society, Johann Ziegler being one of its most brilliant members. A polymath, he was variously a theologian, doctor, chemist and entrepreneur, not to mention one of the founders of Switzerland’s first chemicals plant, the Laboratorium in Winterthur-Neuwiesen, in 1778. Little is known about the education of Jakob Ziegler, other than the fact that he was privately tutored alongside attending state school. He gained initial business experience in his father’s companies. In the 1790s he is thought to have studied chemistry with Henri Struve in Lausanne. He was also a committed member of the music scene in his home town. In 1801 he became a member of the Correspondierende Gesellschaft Schweizer Ärzte und Wundärzte medical association, and was appointed an extraordinary member of the Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich society for research in the natural sciences. Ziegler was also active politically in education, municipal administration and business, and was elected to the Zurich cantonal parliament in 1814. In addition to working in his father’s businesses, professionally Ziegler began in 1797 to devote his time to producing and distributing mineral water. One of his major challenges proved to be the supply of glass bottles and ceramic jugs for filling. The water was distributed via both direct sales locally and agents. In fact, by 1801 he had such sales outlets in the cities of Aarau, Bern, Burgdorf, Constance, Lindau, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, Winterthur and Zurich. Jakob Ziegler also went international, joining forces with the French entrepreneur Bonjour to open a sister company in Paris in 1824. It flourished through into the 1830s. Ziegler also continued to add to the specimens of flora and fauna collected by his father. He added an extra storey to his home, Oberer Steinberg, in Winterthur, and from 1823 onwards made the stuffed birds, minerals and scientific instruments available to the public free of charge. Jakob Ziegler married three times, the first being in 1798 to Elisabeth Hegner (1780–1800), daughter of the Mayor of Winterthur. Following her early death he went on to marry Ludovika Steiner (1780–1836) in 1801, and added her name to his own, becoming the Ziegler-Steiner family. His third marriage was in 1839, to Fanny Pellis (1796–1862), and changed his surname again, to Ziegler-Pellis.
‘Rheinfels. Fabrique de tuyaux de grès près de Schaffhouse’, attributed to Emanuel Labhardt (1810-1874), circa 1845.
‘Rheinfels. Fabrique de tuyaux de grès près de Schaffhouse’, attributed to Emanuel Labhardt (1810–1874), circa 1845. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, collection of the Sturzenegger-Stiftung

The move to Schaffhausen

Ziegler thought long and hard about expanding his business dealings to Schaffhausen. In fact, his first industrial enterprise in the city can be traced back to some time before he took on the tile factory. As early as 1818 he had granted the local mechanical cotton mill a loan, and established business relations with the tile factory’s previous tenant. Ziegler took great interest in the latter’s experiments in the manufacture of hydraulic lime, clay water pipes, chemical vessels and cooking pots. Topographical and construction conditions in the industrial district of Mühlenen limited Ziegler’s entrepreneurial plans considerably. In 1831 he expanded to the opposite bank of the Rhine in the canton of Zurich, where he built a complex with its own water channel and power generation facility in Flurlingen. A ferry connection ensured goods and passenger traffic between the two manufacturing sites, before Ziegler had a wooden bridge built in 1860.
‘Tonwarenfabrik Ziegler Pellis’, watercolour by Emanuel Labhardt, 1861.
‘Tonwarenfabrik Ziegler Pellis’, watercolour by Emanuel Labhardt, 1861. Swiss Confederation / Gottfried Keller Foundation
Jakob Ziegler devoted particular attention to developing, producing and marketing machine-moulded, vitrified clay water pipes. The introduction of modern water and drainage systems at the time meant that clay pipes were replacing the old water pipes made of hollow tree trunks.
Terracotta pipes.
Terracotta pipes. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
Ziegler added a whole range of additional businesses to his portfolio. It is said he made pencils, and ran a veneer mill, an oil mill, a peat press, a grain mill, a gunpowder mill and a lime kiln plus mill for making chalk. For three years from 1836 he even ran a cotton mill with 50 looms. Around 1838 Ziegler began to partner with Schaffhausen sculptor Johann Jakob Oechslin (1802–1873), who created outstanding works for him in terracotta. A magnificent octagonal font in the later Gothic style, standing over a metre high, drew admiration at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Jakob Ziegler-Pellis also had himself immortalised in clay by Oechslin.
Image of the font produced by Ziegler’s ceramics factory, reproduced from the catalogue of the Great Exhibition in London, 1851.
Image of the font produced by Ziegler’s ceramics factory, reproduced from the catalogue of the Great Exhibition in London, 1851. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
Terracotta medallion featuring a bust of entrepreneur Jakob Ziegler, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, 1846.
Terracotta medallion featuring a bust of entrepreneur Jakob Ziegler, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, 1846. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
Oechslin made medallions, busts and sculptures of famous figures from Switzerland and around the world. In addition to adopting motifs from Swiss history, such as a large-format rendering of the oath taken at the Rütli meadow (considered to mark the founding of Switzerland as a confederation), he focused in particular on liberal thinkers from the worlds of the arts and politics. With its choice of images, Ziegler’s ceramics factory contributed to the idolisation of figures from the Swiss Confederation’s past, and thus also to the shaping of Switzerland’s national identity.
The ’Rütli oath’ in terracotta, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, 1846.
The ’Rütli oath’ in terracotta, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, 1846. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
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Plaster and gold-bronze bust of General Guillaume-Henri Dufour, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, 1848.
Plaster and gold-bronze bust of General Guillaume-Henri Dufour, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, 1848. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
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Terracotta paperweight featuring the fallen Arnold von Winkelried, hero of the Battle of Sempach in 1386, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, circa 1848.
Terracotta paperweight featuring the fallen Arnold von Winkelried, hero of the Battle of Sempach in 1386, by Johann Jakob Oechslin, circa 1848. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
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Sensational court case

In August 1862, coverage of a court case against the now 87-year-old Jakob Ziegler-Pellis was all over the German-language press. It concerned an explosion that occurred while Ziegler was making gunpowder in the kitchen of his Winterthur home on 17 July 1862. It killed his maid, Salomea Grübler, from Veltheim. Ziegler was put on trial for involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four months in prison and a fine of 250 francs. Five years earlier, in 1857, another worker had died at the Flurlingen works during a gunpowder manufacturing experiment. As the inventor, Ziegler had been prohibited from ever producing gunpowder again – an order which he had evidently ignored. Before the sentence could begin, he died on 18 January 1863.
A supplement to the Münchner Volksfreund newspaper, the title of which translates as ‘Entertaining and interesting’, reported extensively on the ignominious conviction of Jakob Ziegler.
A supplement to the Münchner Volksfreund newspaper, the title of which translates as ‘Entertaining and interesting’, reported extensively on the ignominious conviction of Jakob Ziegler. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen

De mortuis nil nisi bene

Upholding the principle of never speaking ill of the dead, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper reported Ziegler’s death on 21 January 1863. His final months and his reputation had been overshadowed by the explosion and ensuing trial, but this dishonourable episode could not diminish his lifetime business achievements. His desire “to turn an ordinary tile factory into a ceramics plant that would be a credit to the fatherland in general and the canton of Schaffhausen in particular” became a lasting success. For five generations, he and his descendants succeeded in producing high-quality ceramics – mainly earthenware – in Schaffhausen, and the range of output from the Ziegler ceramics factory between 1828 and 1973 is an impressive demonstration of technological and formal development in European ceramics production.
Jakob Ziegler-Pellis with his grandchildren (l-r): Anna Ziegler, Gertrud Hasler, Henry Ziegler and Leonie Ernst, circa 1861.
Jakob Ziegler-Pellis with his grandchildren (l-r): Anna Ziegler, Gertrud Hasler, Henry Ziegler and Leonie Ernst, circa 1861. Winterthurer Bibliotheken, collection of the city libraries of Winterthur

Ziegler Ceramics. Sought-after Schaffhausen earthenware, 1828 – 1973

One hundred and ninety-five years ago, the triumphal history of an important Swiss ceramics manufacturer began in Schaffhausen. Thanks to their high quality and innovative production methods, the products of the Ziegler ceramics factory conquered the Swiss market. For the first time, the Museum zu Allerheiligen is devoting a major exhibition to the history and products of the Ziegler ceramics factory.

Published on: 02.05.2023

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/05/jakob-ziegler-industrial-pioneer-and-self-made-man/

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