The art of the old masters — Tableware of the Anabaptists and Haban faience from Western Slovakia in the collections of the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna

The Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna was founded in 1895. From the beginning, ceramics were collected. Today, the ceramic collections include about 15,000 objects, of which more than 300 are faiences most probably originating from the west of Slovakia. About 70 of these are from the 17th century and about 80 from the 18th century. Many of the objects entered the collections in the early years of the museum through donations and purchases. An important patron was the art historian Alfred Ritter Walcher von Molthein (1867–1928). He was one of the 19th century researchers and collectors who started the Haban myth about the Hutterites. Between 1974 and 2008, the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art had a branch museum in Burgenland, the Ethnographic Museum in Kittsee Castle. During restoration work on the castle, shards were found that are known as the Kittseer Kellerfund (Kittsee cellar find