11
www.heimatforschung-regensburg.de
eForum
Paulus, Johann Eder
The Arrival in Spain
As we have seen in Ponz’s report on Eder’s recruitment in Copenhagen, he was asked to
come to Spain
” with those persons whom he would consider helpful”
. This did not only ena-
ble him to bring along his wife Ursula, his grown-up sons Joseph and Lorenz, with whom he
had already worked in Sweden and Norway (His third son, Johann, had stayed in Sweden.).
It also allowed him, at his discretion, to recruit other glassmakers, whom he found qualified
and with whom he got along well with. Thus, the German glass engravers family Gubbe
60
came with him from Norway to Spain.
61
Johann Wentzel Gubbe had initially worked in Swe-
den, from 1735, onwards, at Kungsholm
62
and finally, 1744, at the glassworks of Limmared.
63
After that, he had gone to Norway like Eder, before accompanying him to Spain. The broth-
ers Heinrich, Daniel, Johann and Siegismund Brun
64
followed and arrived at San Ildefonso a
few months later, in January 1751.
65
Eder had also worked with these Germans, already in
Norway.
66
Moreover, there are indications suggesting a kinship between the Eder and the
Brun families. The Brun brothers had brought along their mother, while their father continued
to work in Norway.
67
The four brothers were immediately assigned to Johann Eder’s factory.
The Brun family also settled down in Spain, and their descendants continued to work at San
Ildefonso. Siegismund, who later on called himself Simon Brun, in 1770 became director of
the newly established forth section at San Ildefonso, the „Fábrica Segunda de Entrefinos“.
68
Another document brought forward, recently, gives insight into Eder’s first days at San Ild
e-
fonso: The Royal Archives of the Palace in Madrid keep a revealing report, written down on
5
th
October 1750, a fortnight after Eder’s arrival.
69
Its author is Marqués de Galiano intendant
of the Royal Site of San Ildefonso. Its addressee was José de Carvajal y Láncaster
(1698
1754),
royal counsellor and president of the Council of Commerce and Mint („Junta de
Comercio y Moneda“). Therein, de Galiano refers to a meeting with Johann Eder. Besides
details on Eder’s glass recipes he describes the German glassmaker as a man of few words
but good character (
„hombre de pocas palabras, y bueno!“
), whose determined approach
60
Other spellings: Guba, Goba.
61
Paloma P
ASTOR
R
EY DE
V
IÑAS
, Historia de la Real Fábrica de Crystales de San Ildefonso
durante la
Epoca de la Ilustración (1727
1810), San Ildefonso 1994, p. 149, as well as Eliseo D
E
P
ABLOS Y
V
IEJO
, La Real Fábrica de Crystales de la Granja. Su significación histórica y la fabricación de
vidrios planos de grandes dimensiones, p. 87-97 (p. 89), in: José Manuel I
GLESIAS
G
IL
, Cursos
sobre el patrimonio histórico 3. Actas de los IX cursos monográficos sobre el patrimonio histórico,
Reinosa 1998.
62
Heribert S
EITZ
, Äldre svenska glas med graverad dekor, Stockholm 1936, p. 203.
63
Ö
STLUND
, Limmared, as above note 26, p. 27.
64
Other spellings: Brum, Braun.
65
P
ASTOR
R
EY DE
V
IÑAS
,
Historia, as above note 61, p. 150.
66
Friendly advice by Mrs. Anne M
INKEN
.
67
Friendly advices by Mrs. Anne M
INKEN
, as well as by D
R
.
P
ASTOR
P
ALOMA
R
EY DE
V
IÑAS
.
68
P
ASTOR
R
EY DE
V
IÑAS
, Historia, as above note 61, p. 154-155.
69
A.G.P., San Ildefonso. Caja, 13.584; My special thanks to Mr. Herlander Miguel F
RANCISCO
,
Maceira, Portugal, for the copy of that document..
12
www.heimatforschung-regensburg.de
eForum
Paulus, Johann Eder
obviously impressed him. That document, based on a conversation with Johann Eder, shall
be given as a translation:
„Yesterday evening, I called for Juan Eder, the German
master,
and his companions to come to my house. He had already been to Portugal to establish the
production of crystal, together with 32 Germans. After seven months, he returned to his
country, as things did not go well in Portugal. I asked him various questions to learn some-
thing about his way of operation and his recipes, assisted by a poor and worthless interpret-
er, found on the spot. My questions were answered adequately and I became assured that
you will be satisfied with his work. He appeared to me as a man of few words but good!
Traits which can be seen from his face.
He asked me for four hundred bushels of ashes of oak-wood, sufficient for six months. I have
given order to Sr. Domingo Sani, that all ashes from the hearths, as they burn day and night,
particularly in winter, shall be collected and delivered to the servants, to be stored. And,
though he reassured me that ashes of any kind of wood would be good, he explained that
yonder was the best. Of the stone [limestone?]
suitable for his composition, he would store
sufficient quantity, as he made me understand. The deeper the stone was found, the whiter it
is, and consequently the whiter becomes the crystal. Thus, his composition would consist of
ashes, stone, arsenic and salpetre.
He told me that he did not want Frenchmen to work with him but only Spaniards, whom he
would teach in everything that he knew. He suggested choosing willing and striving men, so
that they took advantage of their time to the profit of the King. They gave me a wooden mod-
el after which their iron blowpipes should be made. Today, they have begun to trace the fur-
nace and to level the spot where it shall be built, and the Germans are already preparing the
pité.
You can be assured that it will not take long until everything is prepared and that they will not
fall short of anything. You are requested to arrange that they will not lack salpetre nor other
materials which they may ask M. Berger for.”
De Galiano’s
impression proved to be correct: The expectations of the Spanish Court on Jo-
hann Eder and his collaborators were more than fulfilled. The „Fábrica de Entrefinos“ at San
Ildefonso, established and managed by him, became an enterprise which was both techno-
logically and economically successful. After Johann Eder’s death in 1753 it was carried on by
his son Joseph. It flourished and gained international recognition
70
70
Cf. P
AULUS
, Bayerische Glasmacher, as above note 2.