(b Basle, bapt 24 June 1560; d Nuremberg, 19 April 1633). Swiss pewterer, Formschneider and painter, active in Germany. He was probably apprenticed to the pewterer Hans Friderich in Basle in 1574. By 1583 Enderlein was registered as a journeyman in Nuremberg, which was an important centre for the production of pewter in the 16th century (see NUREMBERG, §III, 2). In 1585 he executed his masterpiece, and a year later he was listed as a master and a citizen of the imperial city of Nuremberg. He created models of pewter pots, candlesticks and sconces and may also have produced Amtsformen (official patterns or moulds) that masters could lend to each other; according to his own account he was a Formschneider (maker of patterns or moulds) and a painter. Enderlein enriched the repertory of form in pewterware by using elements from French Renaissance ornament. He introduced many technical innovations into his craft, and he is credited with producing the first pewter chandelier (untraced) in the Nuremberg area, although no pewter pieces bearing his stamp have been discovered, and thus it is mainly in the field of pattern-cutting that his abilities can be judged. He probably did not employ many journeymen in his workshop, but his idiosyncratic style of ornament appears on pewter tankards, bowls and plates made from the early 17th century until the late Baroque period. Enderlein was more concerned with producing Edelzinn (show pewter) pieces than with domestic pewter items. He was twice elected for a three-year period (1603–6, 1613–16) as one of the three jurors or senior masters of his guild.

• Enderlein, Caspar
  • Germany, §IX, 2(ii): Pewter
  • Nuremberg, §III, 2(ii): Centre of production: Base metals
  • Pewter, §2: Techniques and decoration
  • Plaquette, §3(ii): Northern Europe