Maker Background
One of the greatest names of German Bow-making school, H.R Pfretzschner was born within the craft, and learned from his father, Carl Richard Pfretzschner in Markneukirchen.
After Working in Paris for J.B. Vuillaume, he gave birth to one of the most long-lasting traditional family business in the german bow-making community.
One of the greatest names of German Bow-making school, H.R Pfretzschner was born within the craft, and learned from his father, Carl Richard Pfretzschner in Markneukirchen. By the age of 17, H.R moved to Paris where he worked for a short period at the workshop of Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, in which he not only had first-class education in french bow-making tradition, but also had contact to many of the great names of the french school to whom he shared the working bench at the time, such as Dominique Poirson. After one year working in Paris, H.R Pfretzschner returned to Germany, most probably after Vuillaume's death in 1875. Despite relatively short, this experience deeply influenced his style, and therefore the direction of the german bow-making tradition as a whole, as he was about to become one of its most influential figures. From 1880 to he managed and commanded the family workshop in Markneukirchen until 1914, when his sons Hermann and Berthold assumed the firm Until 1900, the overall production of the Pfretzschner was mainly based in the style of F.N Voirin models, yet deeply personaly approached, which helped to spread the workshop's emerging style trhoughout Germany. By the beggining of the 20th century, Richard Pfretzschner earned the title of 'Purveyor to the court of Saxony', and started applying the stamp of the royal court of arms in his frogs. After that period the workshop output included a variety of models from french and english inpiration, some of which he even registered and patented, yet always preserving the originality of the maker. After his death, the company reamined under the management of the family for at least other 4 generations, keeping the bows brand under the stamp of the patriarch "H.R Pfretzschner".
