Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky

Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky (21 November 1710 – 9 August 1775) was a Prussian merchant with a successful trade in trinkets, silk, taft and porcelain. A relief on Meissen porcelain introduced in 1740s was named after him. Moreover, he acted as a diplomat and art dealer. Gotzkowsky traded in paintings till 1775, but it is said he died impoverished with leaving of an autobiography: Geschichte eines patriotischen Kaufmanns, with a French translation and three reprints in the 18th century.

Born in Konitz in Royal Prussia (now Chojnice in Poland), Gotzkowsky descended from an Adam Gotzkowsky from an impoverished family of Polish nobility. Both his parents died when he was five years as a result of the plague, which broke out after the Great Northern War. Gotzkowsky grew up with relatives in Dresden, who neglected his education. As a 14-year-old he went to Berlin to live with his brother and to apprentise in business. He established him in his jewel and trinket shop and he quickly acquired customers in the highest circles, when he met Frederick the Great. In 1745, he married the daughter of a rich lace maker. Gotzkowsky persuaded his father-in-law to start a velvet factory, which he inherited some years later.

King Frederick II of Prussia commissioned Gotzkowsky to promote the silk trade to compete with France; Gotzkowsky ran a silk factory employing 1,500 persons. Frederick also followed his recommendations in the field of toll levies and import restrictions. Moreover, Gotzkowsky supplied the Prussian army and entered into consultation with Russian and Austrian army leaders, especially after the Prussian defeat at Kunersdorf. On 9 October 1760 Berlin's City Council decided to surrender the city formally to the Russians rather than the Austrians, as Austria was Prussia's bitterest enemy. The Russians immediately made a demand for 4 million Thalers in exchange for the protection of private property. Gotzkowsky took over the negotiations on behalf of the city, and was able to persuade Heinrich von Tottleben to reduce the levy to 1.5 million Thalers. Gotzkowsky travelled to Königsberg in Prussia as a guarantor for the redemption money.

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