Pomeranian art cabinet
The Pomeranian art cabinet was a piece of historical showpiece that the Augsburg art dealer and diplomat Philipp Hainhofer had built for the Pomeranian Duke Philipp II at the beginning of the 17th century . It was a luxurious, artfully crafted desk that was furnished like a miniaturized cabinet of curiosities . The cabinet's case burned in Berlin during the Second World War , and the numerous utensils it contained were preserved.
history
At the beginning of the 17th century, Duke Philip II of Pomerania-Stettin , who was interested in art, ordered a desk from him for his art chamber, inspired by reports from Philipp Hainhofer, who was personally known to him. From 1610, Hainhofer had this made by artisans from Augsburg. The number of people involved in construction and equipment is given in the literature as 24 to 28. The cabinetmaker Ulrich Baumgartner made the cabinet, the stone cutter Daniel Griefsbeck made the incrustations from various precious stones . Other contributors were the goldsmiths David Altenstetter , Gottfried Münderer, Philipp Jacob Pehner, Nikolaus Kolb, Michael Gafs and Matthias Wallbaum , the painters Johann Matthias Kager , Anton Mozart and Achilles Langenbücher, the locksmiths Joifs Müller and Jakob Kuenlin, the sculptor Caspar Mendeler, the engraver Paul Gettich (Göttich), the organ builder Max Genser, the wind maker Matthias Gabler, the bookbinder Gabriel Meelführer which Futteralmacher Daniel Müller and the circle maker Georg anger and clockmaker Friedrich Gosch man and Andreas Stahel.
As new ideas were repeatedly taken up during the construction and incorporated into the furnishings, completion was delayed. At the end of August 1617, the piece of furniture, dismantled into individual parts, reached Stettin and was put together by Baumgartner. Hainhofer provided a description of the nature of the desk and the approximately 200 parts it contained. Philip II took possession of the cabinet on September 2, 1617. The price for the desk, which amounted to 20,000 guilders, could not be paid in full by Philip II until his death in February 1618, so that Hainhofer had to send a warning letter to Philip's successor, Duke Franz .
The piece of furniture remained in the possession of the male line until the Greifenhaus died out in 1637. Then it went through Anna von Croy , the sister of the last Duke, to her son Ernst Bogislaw von Croy . For the first time, he referred to the desk as an “art cabinet” in an estate register. Ernst Bogislaw von Croy bequeathed the cabinet in his will to Electress Dorothea , the wife of his sovereign, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg.
So the art cabinet ended up in the electoral, later royal art chamber in Berlin. Here it was initially referred to as the "Pomeranian Art Table", from 1786 as the "Pomeranian Art Cabinet". In the 19th century it came into the possession of the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin, where it formed the main piece of a collection of similar furniture. In 1945 the cabinet burned in Berlin. It had been moved to the deep safe of the Neue Münze in Berlin, but was destroyed there by the effects of the war. The majority of the content was retained and continues to be part of the holdings of the Kunstgewerbemuseum.
Pomeranian art cabinet - general view
Pomeranian art cabinet - top front view
Pomeranian art cabinet - view open
Pomeranian art cabinet - ivory inlays
Furnishing
The art cabinet was 1.15 meters wide and 1.36 meters high. The exterior was made of ebony and was fitted with fittings and inlays made of silver and precious stones. Sandalwood and red leather were used for the interior . The cupboard rested on four griffin figures that held coats of arms with the coat of arms of Pomerania for the Duke and the coat of arms of Holstein for his wife. On the lower part of the cupboard was a smaller part that tapered towards the top. A representation of Mount Parnassus with a Pegasus figure, probably made by Matthias Wallbaum, formed the upper end .
On the outer walls there were silver ornaments depicting fruits and musical instruments. In ovals on the sides, six of the liberal arts were depicted in silver, while the music was symbolized by various music-making statuettes. There were also ten enamelled medallions on the sides, six of which were engraved by David Altenstetter.
On the inside of the four double doors there were scenic scenes with depictions of the four elements , which were attributed to Anton Mozart. On the back was a boxwood plaque with the incised twelve works of Hercules , which covered the pipework of a miniature organ . There was also an ebony game board with a chess board with silver inlays on one side and a mill game with ivory inlays on the other . In addition to the corresponding pieces and pieces, various dice and card games, numerous other utensils were included. There was a pharmacy, a so-called "Balbierstube" with surgical instruments, combs, scissors, etc., various tools, crockery and cutlery in various compartments. There were also various geometric and astronomical instruments, a mechanical table clock with a sundial and compass, and a telescope .
The handover of the desk by Hainhofer to the ducal couple and their court as well as the participating artists and craftsmen is shown on a painting (see picture on the right) that could be pulled out of the cupboard.
Pomeranian art cabinet - equipment care utensils
Pomeranian art cabinet - equipment chess pieces ivory
Pomeranian art cabinet - equipment pharmacy
Pomeranian art cabinet - equipment instruments
literature
- Hellmut Hannes : The Pomeranian Art Cabinet - Origin, Environment, Fate -. In: Baltic Studies . Volume 76 NF, 1990, ISSN 0067-3099 , pp. 81-115. (with numerous black and white images)
- Horst-Dieter Maronde: Artful "writing implements". The Pomeranian art cupboard for Duke Philip II was completed after seven years. In: Nordkurier , August 25, 2008, p. 27.
- Barbara Mundt: The Pomeranian Art Cabinet. Hirmer-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 3777480452 .
- Max Schasler: The Royal Museums of Berlin. Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1867, pp. 208–209. ( Digitized version )
- Julius Lessing , Adolf Brüning (ed.): The Pomeranian art cabinet. Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1905 ( digitized version of the Kujawsko-Pomorska digital library ; DjVu format)
- Christoph Emmendörffer, Christof Trepesch: Wonder World. The Pomeranian Art Cabinet. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-422-07248-0 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Large-format color photo of the painting in: Die Pommersche Zeitung. No. 47/2009, pp. 12-13.