Splendid table from the Berlin Kunstkammer

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The splendid table from the Berlin Kunstkammer consists of an octagonal table top on a wooden base and is a splendid piece of furniture that was made in the mid-16th century. The table has been in evidence in the Brandenburg-Prussian Art Chamber since the end of the 17th century . The wooden table is inlaid with several miniature paintings under rock crystal . The paintings were by Raphael's frescoes in the loggias of the Pope in the Vatican . The table is now in the permanent exhibition of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin .

description

Octagonal splendid tabletop (detail), 1556, Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin , inv. No.K 2613

The table top has a diameter of 118 centimeters and rests on a four-legged frame. The black frame consists of four spirally wound legs that are connected to each other by cross bars. The base frame is probably not the one that originally belonged to the table top.

The table top, which is stylistically assigned to the Italian area, is veneered from above with ebony , is criss-crossed with a geometric pattern of silver veins and has deep inlays with triangular, square and round miniature images. For protection, these are covered by rock crystal prisms.

Most of the miniatures are biblical scenes based on Raphael. Towards the middle there are images of Maltese crosses , armillary spheres , heraldic still lifes and flowers. The edges of the embedded miniatures are covered with gold or silver leaf . The table is dated to 1556 in inscriptions under the middle painting . The underside of the table top is also very elaborate and veneered with flamed maple, walnut and yew .

Miniatures after Raphael

The "Raphael Loggias", which are located on the second floor of the Papal Palace in the Vatican, consist of 13 bays with a painted cycle of 52 scenes. The scenes contain the biblical story in chronological order from south to north. 48 scenes can be assigned to the Old Testament , four scenes to the New . Raphael started furnishing in 1516 and completed the work in 1519. The admiration and reception of Raphael's frescoes began shortly afterwards across Europe.

The largest miniature painting in the center of the table appears to be the scene “ The Adoration of the Shepherds ” from the last vaulted section of the loggias. However, its composition was slightly changed in order to be able to write the originally rectangular scene in a circle. In some cases, the image section of the scenes was expanded to adapt them to the shape of the miniature; this also happened with the triangular scene " Abimelech overhears Isaac and Rebekah " placed in the table .

State of preservation

The table was described as defective when the table was transferred from the library to the Kunstkammer. This can also be found in the inventory in which the table is mentioned for the first time. In 1997, the annual report of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin mentions a restoration measure for the splendid table, which included work on the wood and additions to the paintings. In its current condition, some of the miniatures are missing and the veneer shows cracks in some places.

Object history

In the Berlin Kunstkammer

Nothing is known about the context in which it was created or the circumstances in which the table came to Berlin. However, the table is said to have been acquired during the time of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm . A first written testimony from the table documents that Elector Friedrich I ordered the handover of the octagonal table from the Electoral Library to the Kunstkammer on March 25, 1689.

In the following inventory from 1694, the table is now listed in the “Rarities and Tricks” section with the words “An eight-cornered table, with painted HISTORIES in water color, with CRYSTALL above, different glasses and ground ones missing”.

The next written documents come from the middle of the 18th century. It is a handwritten travelogue that was probably written between 1742 and 1752. Nothing is known about the author. As object number 18, the table is said to be “made very clean, the figures in it are made of red waistband. Among other things, the hoe with which Cain killed his brother Abel is remarkable. A printed description published in 1756 copies this entry.

In 1844 it was also included in the guide for the Royal Chamber of Art in the category "I." published by the head of the Kunstkammer, Leopold von Ledebur . Department of Art ”in the section“ N. Kunst-Möbel ”with the number IN 17 and reproduces the entry from the entry book in which the transfer of the table from the library to the art chamber is reported.

In 1859 the Kunstkammer moved from the Berlin Palace to the New Museum, which opened in 1830 . The newest guide through the royal. Museums of Berlin from 1869 describes the installation of the table on the upper floor in the Kunstkammer department. An inventory made on the occasion of the dissolution of the Kunstkammer in 1875 reports that the table is the school table of Elector Friedrich I. Here the creation of the table was also dated to the 17th century. However, an incised year under the middle picture indicates that it was made in 1556.

In the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin

After the dissolution of the Kunstkammer in 1875 and the handover of the handicrafts to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, the splendid table was also exhibited free-standing in the Gropius Building, which opened in 1881, on the ground floor in the Great Renaissance Hall. According to the guide to the collection from 1887, the table was now in the historic room from Haldenstein Castle and was intended to represent the room's former furnishings. In the museum guides 1902, 1907 and 1910 it can be observed that the list of furniture in this room was reduced further and further and finally no furniture was described at all. So whether the table was simply not mentioned or removed from the exhibition cannot be determined.

In 1988 the table was shown in the temporary exhibition "The Great Elector - Collector, Builder, Patron" in the New Palace in Potsdam . Today it is in the permanent exhibition of the Kunstgewerbemuseum at the Kulturforum in the section "Renaissance Southern Europe" and is described in the current museum guide, which presents the institution's 100 main works.

swell

  • SBB PK Ms. Boruss. fol. 740
  • SBB PK Ms. Boruss. quart. 229
  • GStA PK, HA I, Hofverwaltung, Rep. 36, Nr. 2710
  • Archive of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, K Numbers Inventory, Volume IV

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Giersberg , Claudia Meckel, Gerd Bartoschek: The Great Elector: 1620–1688: collector, builder, patron  ; July 10th to October 9th, Neues Palais in Sanssouci , Potsdam 1988.
  • Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Berlin (ed.): Guide through the collection , Berlin 1882.
  • Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Berlin (ed.): Guide through the collection , Berlin 1887.
  • Georg Gottfried Küster : The Old and New Berlin Third Department , Berlin 1756.
  • Lothar Lambacher Sabine Thümmler (ed.): Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin at the Kulturforum , Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-7913-5427-9 .
  • Leopold von Ledebur: Guide for the Königliche Kunstkammer and the Ethnographic Cabinet zu Berlin , Berlin 1844.
  • National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage (ed.): 1997 Annual Report of the National Museums in Berlin . In: Yearbook of the Berlin Museums , Volume 40, 1998, pp. 207 + 209–295.
  • Steffi Roettgen: Raphael's Roman career as a painter - The loggias . In: arthistoricum.net, 2017, accessed June 30, 2020.
  • W. Wassermann (ed.): Latest guide through the royal. Museums of Berlin , Berlin 1869.

Web links

National Museums Online Database: Octagonal Splendid Tabletop

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lothar Lambacher; Sabine Thümmler (ed.): Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin: am Kulturforum , Berlin 2014, p. 43.
  2. ↑ Steffi Roettgen: Raphael's Roman career as a painter - the loggias. In: arthistoricum.net. 2017, accessed June 30, 2020 .
  3. ^ National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage (ed.): 1997 Annual Report of the National Museums in Berlin . In: Yearbook of the Berlin Museums , Volume 40, 1998, p. 233.
  4. ^ Göres Burkhardt: The furniture in the residences of the great elector. On the history of furniture art between 1640 and 1688 . In: Hans-Joachim Giersberg (Ed.): The Great Elector: 1620-1688: Collector, builder, patron . Potsdam 1988, p. 133 .
  5. ↑ SBB PK Ms. Boruss. fol. 740, f. 8v.
  6. ↑ GStA PK, HA I, Hofverwaltung, Rep. 36, No. 2710, p. 141.
  7. ↑ SBB PK Ms. Borrus. quart. 229, f. 2r.
  8. ↑ Georg Gottfried Küster: Des old and new Berlin third section , Berlin 1756, p. 549.
  9. ^ Leopold von Ledebur: Guide for the Royal Chamber of Art and the Ethnographic Cabinet in Berlin , Berlin 1844, pp. 80f.
  10. ^ W. Wassermann (ed.): Newest guide through the royal. Museums in Berlin , Berlin 1869, p. 31.
  11. ↑ K Numbers Inventory, Volume IV, p. 38.
  12. ↑ Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Berlin (ed.): Guide through the collection , Berlin 1882, p. 22.
  13. ↑ Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Berlin (ed.): Guide through the collection , Berlin 1887, p. 28.
  14. ^ See exhibition catalog: Hans-Joachim Giersberg , Claudia Meckel, Gerd Bartoschek: The Great Elector: 1620–1688: collector, builder, patron  ; July 10th to October 9th, Neues Palais in Sanssouci , Potsdam 1988.