Gold Boxes As Diplomatic Gifts: Archival Resources in Dresden
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Gold boxes as diplomatic gifts: archival resources in Dresden MAUREEN CASSIDY-GEIGER 1 The Présents du Roi is known. For the queen’s From a lecture delivered at the conference Going for Gold: Craftsmanship held by the Ministère des privy purse, from her mar- Affaires Etrangères riage in 1719 until 1753, and Collecting Gold Boxes held at the Wallace Collection and the Victoria (Mémoires et documents, see Sächsisches and Albert Museum from 26 to 28 November 2010 France, 2037-2098) but is Hauptstaatsarchiv (hence also available on microfilm forward SHStA) Dresden, at the libraries of the 10026, Geheimes Kabinett The eighteenth-century was the age of diplomacy and the age of Wallace Collection and (hence forward Geh Kab), the snuff box [Figs 1 and 2] but few boxes survive so archival mate- Metropolitan Museum of Loc 364/1 (1719) – 365/4 Art. Scholars know and use (1753); I am currently rial is usually the primary resource for examining this elite phenom- this document but it has analysing the queen’s enon. Record keeping varied from court to court, with the French yet to be fully analysed privy purse for evidence of and researched. her purchases of porcelain. Présents du Roi [Presents of the King] setting an enviable gold See Corinne Thepaut, The musicologist Johannes standard.1 ‘An Archive about French Agustsson was the first to Royal Presents’, Studies in publish from the prince’s the Decorative Arts, vol XV, privy purse accounts in Although no such compilation survives for the court of Saxony there no 1, Fall-Winter 2007-2008, Giovanni Alberto Ristori at are, nevertheless, important resources in the holdings of the Saxon pp 4-18. the Court of Naples 1738- 2 1740, Claudio State Archive in Dresden that warrant a broader awareness. 2 Many unfamiliar sources Bacciagaluppi et al, The privy purse accounts of Queen Maria Josepha (1699-1757) and of for historians of diplomatic Pergolesiani Pergolesi her son, Crown Prince Friedrich Christian (1722-63), for example, gifts were presented in Studies 8, 2012, pp 53-100. conjunction with the exhi- are largely untapped; the prince’s expenditure on his tour of Italy in bition Fragile Diplomacy: 4 SHStA Dresden, Geh Kab 1738-40 forms the Appendix to this article.3 Several members of the Meissen Porcelain for 10026, Loc 3338/4, European Courts, ca. 1710-63 Journaux (Vienna 1740, Saxon royal family journeyed abroad in the late-seventeenth and early- held at the Bard Graduate 1758, 1760); Loc 3288/30, eighteenth centuries and the documentation for these tours, and their Center, New York in 2007. Reise der Prinzen Friedrich 4 See Maureen Cassidy- Christian Xaver und Karl gifts, is largely unstudied. The voluminous diplomatic correspon- Geiger (ed), Fragile betr 1745 and dence surviving in Dresden also offers ample evidence of gift giving as Diplomacy: Meissen Oberhofmarschallamt well as the trade in precious commodities.5 The Dresden court calen- Porcelain for European 10006, T, III, Reisen. See as Courts, ca. 1710-63, London well Katrin Keller (ed) dar, published from 1728 onwards, is also a valuable source for infor- and New Haven, 2007; ‘“Mein Herr befindet sich mation about the use of snuff boxes as royal gifts and tournament Maureen Cassidy-Geiger gottlob wohl”: Sächsische 6 (ed), Studies in the Prinzen auf Reisen’, prizes. Finally, the Audienzen [state audience] files in the vast archive Decorative Arts, vol XV, Deutsch-Französische of the Oberhofmarschallamt [High Court Marshall] offer comprehensive no 1, Fall-Winter 2007-2008; Kulturbibliothek, vol 3, details of state visits with their distinctive protocols, such as the Maureen Cassidy-Geiger Leipzig, 1994. (ed), ‘Gift Giving in Turkish embassies to Poland and the French embassies to Saxony, with Eighteenth-Century 5 For background, information about receptions and the presentation of gifts.7 European Courts’, The see Judith Matzke, Society for Court Studies, Gesandtschaftswesen und vol 14, 2 December 2009. diplomatischer Dienst Prince Friedrich Christian began receiving a small personal See as well Maureen Sachsesn 1694-1764, Cassidy-Geiger, ‘Luxury Leipzig, 2011. allowance in 1731, thanks to his chamberlain, Count Wackerbarth- Markets and Marketing Salmour, who solicited from the king Luxuries: The Leipzig Fair 6 Unfortunately the dense and the Dresden Merceries narratives found from 1728 under Augustus the onward wane by the time l’argent du jeu, tirages, et autres petites discretions, et menus Strong’ in Mark Häberlein of the weddings in 1747. plaisirs [money for gambling, draughts and other little indis- and Christoph Jeggle (eds), The published calendar has Materielle Grundlagen der been scanned and is avail- cretions and pleasures] Diplomatie. Schenken, able on CD-Rom at various Sammeln und Verhandeln in libraries under the heading to be administered by the boy’s valet, Sebastian Wilczynski.8 Spätmittelalter und Früher Königl Polnischer und Neuzeit, Konstanz UVK, Churfürstl Sächsischer Hof- The official Comptes de la Chatoulle only began in April 1734, follow- 2015 [forthcoming]. und Staats-Calender and ing the election of his father as King of Poland, which elevated was published under vari- 3 No such account for the ant titles into the twentieth Friedrich Christian to the position of Crown Prince. This entitled him expenditures of Augustus century. to the revenues of Oberlausnitz [Upper Lusatia] to augment the con- II or Augustus III is tinuing pocket money from the king. Wilczynski remained in charge 48 of his spending until the prince attained the age of twenty one in September 1743. The earliest Comptes de la Chatoulle record small tips, “gratifications” and “discretions” to couriers, clergymen, artists, musicians, courtiers and members of his staff. Payments for luxury goods began in 1737, for instance on 7 March 1737 Vor 1. Goldene Tabattiere von einen Engelländer aus Berlin à 120 Thrl. […] 43.1.18 (Ducaten) [For 1. Gold snuff box from an Englishman in Berlin for 120 thalers] or on 16 March An Abel Simon vor 1. Goldene Tabattiere laut deßen Quittung à 150 Thrl. […] 54.1.12 [Ducaten]. [To Abel Simon for 1. gold snuff box according to his invoice for 150 thalers]9 Perhaps on account of his sister’s impending marriage to the King of Naples in May 1738, or the prince’s forthcoming journey to Italy to seek a cure on Ischia, a dealer named Latour was paid 554 thalers [201 ducats] for three snuff boxes and other galanteries in late March Fig 1 Un Mercier / Ein Galanterie Händler, and the Prussian merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky supplied three hand-coloured engraving, published by Martin snuff boxes and other items for 473 thalers [172 ducats] in early April Engelbrecht, Augsburg 10 of the same year. The prince was a diarist from the age of twelve but ( Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inv. nr. B there is nothing in his daily reports, penned in French, the court lan- 1884, 2, pl 27) guage, about the recipients of these items.11 He did, however, write about receiving two hardstone snuff boxes from his family on 5 March 1738 Jour de Saint Frideric Abbé et par consenquent jour du Nom de S.M. le Roi, et en meme le mien […] Ma Soeur Amalie envoya ici mon frère Charles avec un compliment de felicitation et un present de Sa part qui consiste en une Tabattiere de Cristal de Roche enchase d’or […] La Reine me fit present d’un Tabattiere de toute sorte de mineraux mis ensemble et d’une tres jolie Bague d’un sapphire brulé. [The saint’s day of St Frederic Abbé and consequently the name day of His Majesty the King and in the same way mine [ …] My sister Amalie sent my brother Charles here with felicitations and a present from her which was a rock crystal snuff box mounted with gold [ … ] The Queen made me a gift 7 Essentially a chronologi- Königlichen Hoheit des 11 I am currently preparing cal listing of audiences in Kurprinzen zu Sachsen the diaries of the prince’s the Saxon/Polish realm, Sehatullengelder. two-year tour of Italy in I have posted excerpts from 1738-40 for publication the Turkish and French 9 Ibid. with special attention to embassies on wellesley.aca- the content of the diaries demia.edu/MaureenCassid 10 For more on Gotzkowsky, and his privy purse expen- yGeiger see Nina Simone ditures before and after his Schepkowski, Johann Ernst odyssey abroad. See www. Fig 2 Une Merciere / Eine Galanterie Händlerin, 8 SHStA, 10076: 7/55, Gotzkowsky, Kunstagent und comtedelusace.wordpress.com hand-coloured engraving, published by Martin Rechnungen der Hof - und Gemäldesammler im frider- Engelbrecht, Augsburg Staatsbehörden, Einnahme izianischen Berlin, Berlin, (Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inv. nr. B und Ausgabe über Seiner 2009. 1884, 2, pl 28) 49 of a snuff box of all kinds of minerals put togeth- Giovanni Carafa, Duca di Noja (1715-68), was a scientist, er and a very pretty ring with a burnt sapphire].12 best remembered today for initiating the landmark thirty five part map of Naples published in 1775 and features The prince’s diary of his two-year tour of Italy (May 1738 regularly in the prince’s Neapolitan journal. The singer to September 1740) records numerous outgoing and incom- Vittoria Tesi [Thesi is a misspelling] performed for the ing gifts of snuff boxes13 and Count Wackerbarth’s official prince with the Italian tenor Angelo Maria Amorevoli court journal indicates similar gifts.14 The snuff boxes and and the Dresden musician Christian Friedrich Horn, galanteries presented by the prince to his hosts abroad both of whom left empty handed. According to the were mostly sent to Italy from Dresden in an effort to show- prince’s diary three Dresden snuff boxes were, however, case Saxon manufactures; consequently, they were often of handed out as prizes to winners at his birthday shooting polished Saxon hardstones or Meissen porcelain with gilt competition.16 mounts.