INtroduction This exhibition has been curated by the Eng- to the lish artist and writer Edmund de Waal. At the exhibition invitation of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, de Waal made repeated visits to over a period of three years to spend time with its collections and curators, and to make a per- sonal selection of objects from among the many thousands assembled over centuries by the museum’s Habsburg founders.

He has borrowed from seven different collec- tions of the Kunsthistorisches Museum: the Picture Gallery, Greek and Roman Antiqui- ties, the Kunstkammer, the Imperial Treasury, Historical Musical Instruments, the Library, and the collection of Ambras Castle, the for- mer residence of Archduke Ferdinand II in Innsbruck, Tyrol. Four additional objects, at least one of which was formerly in the Ambras collection, have been generously lent by the Natural History Museum, our twin build- ing across the Maria-Theresien-Platz. The ex- hibition is completed by a major new work created by de Waal himself, as a response to his selection.

De Waal instinctively understood the oppor- tunities that the invitation afforded while rec- ognizing the trapdoors that came with it. His role was not to be that of the museum curator, whose task is to identify, study, present and This is the second exhibition in a series for contextualize works of art that represent the which internationally renowned artists are most accomplished of their type, period, or invited to work with the collections of the style. Nor was it that of the contemporary art- Kunsthistorisches Museum, following that ist who is invited into an historical museum curated by Ed Ruscha in 2012. to trace lines between the past and the pres- ent. His role was to be something else: to iden- tify and assemble objects, the majority of them little known, unburdened by the restrictions of the museum’s traditional conventions of display; to propose a new understanding of those objects by altering their placement and their context; and to trace new lines of thought within and around the past.

Seen together, the objects that he has chosen represent a personal reinterpretation of the past. The challenge and pleasure for the visitor is to try to match our eye to his, to comprehend the reasons for his choices. In doing so, we deepen our understanding of de Waal’s own work and the decisions that lie behind it. The lives of objects, particular- ly those displaced from their original context or denied their original function, has long been a subject of great interest to him. We see it in his own ceramic work, we read it in his writing, and now we can perceive it in this exhibition. Edmund Edmund de Waal, OBE, was born in 1964 in Buckinghamshire, England (2012); »On White: de Waal: , England. He received his BA Stories from the Fitzwilliam«, Uni- Biography Honours in 1983 from the University of Cam- versity of Cambridge, , bridge and his Postgraduate Diploma in 1992 England (2013); »Another Hour«, Southwark from the University of . In 2002 he Cathedral, London (2014); »Atmosphere«, completed his postgraduate studies as Senior Turner Contemporary, England (2014); »Licht- Research Fellow in Ceramics at the Universi- zwang«, Theseus Temple, organized by the ty of Westminster, London. A potter since Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (2014); and childhood and an acclaimed writer, de Waal »The lost and the found: work from Orkney«, is best known for his large-scale installations New Art Centre, England (2015). Much of his of porcelain vessels, which have been ex- recent work has been concerned with ideas hibited in and collected by museums around of collecting and collections, and with how the world, including: Los Angeles County Mu- objects are kept together, lost, stolen and dis- seum of Art, California; Museum of Arts and persed. His work comes out of a dialogue be- Design, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, tween minimalism, architecture and sound, Houston; Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frank- and is informed by his passion for literature. furt; National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; His acclaimed memoir The Hare with Amber and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Eyes was the winner of the Costa Biography Recent solo museum exhibitions include: Award and the RSL (Royal Society of Litera- »Ceramic Rooms«, Geffrye Museum, London ture) Ondaatje Prize. In 2015, de Waal was (2001); New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salis- awarded a prestigious Windham-Campbell bury, England (2004); »Arcanum«, National prize for non-fiction by Yale University. His Museums and Galleries of Wales, latest book, The White Road: Journey into an (2005); »Vessel, perhaps«, Millgate Museum, Obsession, was published in November 2015. England (2006); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, and De Waal lives and works in London. Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Eng- land (2007); »Signs & Wonders«, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2009); «Night Work«, New Art Centre, Roche Court (2010); »Edmund de Waal at Waddesdon«, Waddesdon Manor, 1 Sometime during the night of 7 June 1525, 2 This wooden box contains a perfect imita- Albrecht Dürer awoke from a frightening night- tion of a forest floor in moss that acts as the mare. The following morning, deeply agitated, »habitat« of countless small creatures made DREAM VISION he recorded what he had seen in a watercol- »SHAKE-BOX« of painted cardboard, including snails, snakes, our and added a detailed description. This tortoises, spiders, beetles, a scorpion and even South German (Tyrol?), Albrecht Dürer work is his popular Dream Vision: a massive a dragon-like winged creature of fable, some 1525 after 1550 deluge of rain is seen descending upon a wide gazing out from small niche-like caves. Bal- Watercolour on paper, Wood, cardboard, clay, inscribed and signed landscape in which we can make out the faint all painted, lead weights anced by lead counter-weights and loosely at- In the Albrecht Dürer outlines of tiny houses and trees. Dream with wire, moss, poppy tached to eyelets and small wooden pegs, these seeds, snail shells »Kunstbuch« Vision is part of the so-called Kunstbuch (»Art tiny cardboard creatures begin to shake and Vienna, Vienna, Book«), a collection of 216 woodcuts and prints jiggle whenever someone touches the box, cre- Kunsthistorisches Kunsthistorisches Museum, Kunstkammer from metal plates by Albrecht Dürer. It also Museum, Kunstkammer ating the impression that they are alive. A typ- contains thirteen drawings, eight of which are (Ambras Castle ical Kunstkammer object, the »shake-box« Innsbruck) by Dürer himself. (»Schüttelkasten«) combines the imitation of nature with outstanding artistry and technical Edmund de Waal: skill. You wake up and don’t know where you are. A plain, low hills and fields. Somewhere from Edmund de Waal: childhood. And the heavens have opened and When considering the Wunderkammer, the the waters are coming down, the waters are room of wonders, Francis Bacon talked of the coming towards you. It is the apocalypse. The possibility of having »in small compass a world is turned upside down. You can hard- model of universal nature made private«. ly breathe. During the night you are exposed. Everything, he says, is possible here. There In the Kunsthistorisches I feel exposed. These should be a »goodly huge cabinet, wherein are the last days of mankind. whatsoever the hand of man by exquisite art or engine hath made rare in stuff, form, or motion; whatsoever nature hath wrought in things that want life and may be kept; shall be sorted and included.« Here is the shuffle and shake of things. How much control do you really have? 3–7, 9–12 Initially the term »handstone« denoted an 8 »The journey is arduous but an inestimable unusually shaped or sized lump of ore that reward waits at the summit.« While this up- one could hold in one’s hand to study and lifting Latin inscription on the giant’s coat-of- HANDSTONES contemplate. In the course of the sixteenth ALLEGORY OF arms is primarily aimed at the representatives century such pieces were increasingly turned VIRTUE (»MOUNT of secular and ecclesiastical authority assem- Sankt Joachimsthal into Kunstkammer objects by being reworked, OF VIRTUES«) bled at the foot of the mountain, it is also (Jáchymov), second half of 16th century; mounted, and combined with other materials addressed to the viewer. The sheer cliffs in Slovakian/Hungarian, or goldsmith work – the earliest presumably Lucas Cranach the Cranach’s composition symbolize the travails th Younger mid-18 century at Sankt Joachimsthal (Jáchymov), Bohemia, of acting in a virtuous and God-fearing man- Silver, partially gilt, Dated 1548 in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), where ner, the pursuit of which will ultimately be various minerals, glass, Limewood panel wood most of the examples on show here were also Vienna, rewarded. This allegorical call for persever- Vienna, produced. This juxtaposing of art and nature Kunsthistorisches ance painted in 1548 was almost certainly in- Museum, Picture Kunsthistorisches is typical of the second half of the sixteenth formed by the religious struggles of its time: Museum, Kunstkammer Gallery century, but we also encounter it in baroque the Catholics’ defeat of the Protestants in 1547 handstones such as the model of a mine set had brought on a profound crisis for the new on a manchette-shaped silver base, which was Christian faith. probably produced near Neusohl (Banská Bystrica) in present-day Slovakia. Edmund de Waal: How do you get up this fissured rock? There Edmund de Waal: is something billowing out from the tree, The mine is a place of great danger. There are something written on a banner. There is an spirits who draw you on, places that give way angel offering benediction. It promises well. under you, damp and noxious airs and gases But the gate is narrow and the path disap- that make you sleep. There are seams that pears. I see a falling man. offer riches but are false. Here in these hand- stones something buried is transfigured: em- bedded in the rock are the steps to the place of crucifixion, a mine working, a house. This is the landscape of anxiety. 13 The name of this bass wind instrument de- 14 A shadowy lute player appears before a rives from its sinuous, serpent-like shape, woman gazing at her own reflection in a which allows the player to reach all six fin- mirror; scattered around them are precious SERPENT gerholes. In addition to the usual cup-shaped ALLEGORY OF objects, pieces of armour and a number of mouthpiece, the present instrument has a VANITY string instruments. Here Bramer combines the Italian- or German- th blowpipe in the shape of a snake’s open attributes of beauty and authority with the speaking lands, 16 or Leonhard Bramer th mouth; this feature, however, is purely dec- typical elements of an allegory of Vanity. The 17 century c. 1640 Lightweight coarse- orative and does not affect the sound. The ser- Oak panel inscription »Vanitas [vanit]ates om[nia fibred wood stained pent’s conical resonator is composed of sev- Vienna, vanitas]« (»Vanity of vanities, all is vanity«) brown, leather, brass, eral hollowed-out wooden segments, which Kunsthistorisches is taken from the Old Testament book of ivory mouthpiece Museum, Picture after being glued together were encased in Ecclesiastes and underlines the symbolism of Vienna, Gallery Kunsthistorisches black leather to make them stabler and more the scene. Its counterpart, the Allegory of Museum, Collection airtight. Both the blowpipe and the ivory Transience, shows an old man absorbed in a of Historical Musical mouthpiece are later additions. page inscribed with the words »Memento Instruments 15 Mori«. He is the sole living creature in this Edmund de Waal: moribund setting: his only companion is a Adopt TER- Blow this great horn. The walls of the city ALLEGORY OF skeleton clutching and apparently grinning at A MAS TRANSIENCE PIECE wait. a skull.

Leonhard Bramer c. 1640 Edmund de Waal: Oak panel This is shape shifting. Pick something up. In- Vienna, struments and armour, silver goblets and a Kunsthistorisches Museum, Picture golden chain. A skeleton and a broken dish, Gallery a clay pipe. This is the banquet of images. Emblems and allegories lie around in the darkness. »The most lurid fantasies«, writes Karl Kraus, »are quotations.« 16 & 17 Chased and decorated with oil paints, these 18 For centuries the Veil of Veronica was regard- exchangeable iron visors were worn by joust- ed as the most precious sacred object in the ers participating in the »Hussars’ tourna- Ecclesiastical Treasury in Vienna. By the ac- MASK-SHAPED ments« hosted by Archduke Ferdinand II at THE VEIL OF count of its former owners, the Savellis of VISORS (»Hussar« Prague in 1557. The »eyebrows« are cut out VERONICA Rome, who presented it to Emperor Charles VI And »Moor«) to function as eye slits; below them, the paint- in 1721, it had been brought to the city by the ed eyes have air holes to facilitate breathing. Pietro Strozzi same Volusianus who, according to the Leg- Court Armoury at Rome, 1617; Vienna?, The masks’ shapes, colours and horsehair enda Aurea (or rather the Cura Sanitatis Ti- Prague, c. 1557 c. 1721 (outer frame) Iron, decorated with oil moustaches were designed to reflect the physi- Silver, partially gilt, berii), had been sent to Jerusalem by the ail- paint, leather, horsehair ognomy and complexion of the »Hussars« ebony, mother of pearl, ing Emperor Tiberius to escort Jesus back to Innsbruck, Ambras and »Moors« who confronted each other in ivory, onyx cameos, Rome and thus advance his (the Emperor’s) Castle wood, silk these tournaments, a reminder of the war return to good health. However, as the Cru- Vienna, against the Ottoman Empire still being fought Kunsthistorisches cifixion had already taken place when Volu- in Hungary. The mask-shaped visors were Museum, Ecclesiastical sianus arrived, he returned with Veronica and produced in the court armoury of Archduke Treasury her veil instead. As soon as Tiberius set eyes Ferdinand II at Prague. on the veil he was cured. We now know that the Vienna version was copied in 1617 from Edmund de Waal: the Veronica in St. Peter’s. When you put on a mask, it is not clear what happens, who you become. These masks are Edmund de Waal: uncanny. You are »robbed of your eyes«, says She wipes his face. The sweat holds in the Freud. cloth. The cloth holds an image of a man in pain; four brown marks. 19 We still do not know the identity of the pre- 20 Dedicated to Pope Leo X, this first edition of sumably noble sitter whom Cranach portrayed the collected works of the Greek Philosopher in 1564 together with her husband (his por- Plato (427–347 bc) was printed and published PORTRAIT OF trait is also now in Vienna). A curtain was Palimpsest: by Aldus Manutius in Venice in September A LADY added at a later date to hide the crest on their ÁPANTA TÀ TOÛ 1513. The book’s vellum cover is a palimpsest respective portraits, and it, too, has not yet PLÁTŌNOS // OPERA – the archetype of recycling: as a costly and Lucas Cranach the been deciphered. As well as idealizing the PLATONIS OMNIA thus precious writing material, parchment was Younger lady’s features, Cranach has created a respect- reused repeatedly. Remnants of the original Dated 1564 Venice, Aldus Manutius ful distance between subject and beholder, inscription cover a total of nineteen lines run- Limewood panel 1513 Vienna, mainly by depicting her in a rigidly formal Vienna, ning from right to left. Reflected in light, the Kunsthistorisches pose and focusing on her sumptuous high- Kunsthistorisches symbols turn into Latin letters, which here Museum, Picture necked attire. Note also how he sets off her Museum, Library and there make up Latin words. However, the Gallery almost incorporeal figure against the pictor- many missing and illegible sections render the ial space evoked by the strong shadow cast Adopt text too fragmented to be deciphered. TER- on the wall behind. A MAS PIECE Edmund de Waal: Edmund de Waal: Unsteadiness of texts. Losing and refinding. Her hands are folded, just so. It has taken the Doubleness. Voices. Nothing lasts in one form. maids several hours to dress her, arrange the folds and pleats, draw the sleeves over her arms, plait her hair, pin her hat. She sits and looks at us. Her shadow looks at her. 21 The verses engraved into the lower section of 22 Already during his lifetime the artist was fam- this slab are a Virgilian cento, a patchwork ous throughout Europe for the astounding veri- poem made up of lines from the Aeneid and similitude of his character faces and was known LIMESTONE SLAB the Georgics. In it the anonymous author gives OLD WOMAN – half-admiringly, half-mockingly – as »pore WITH A FOSSILIZED an account of a death-bringing deluge that de- Denner«. The Old Woman now in Vienna is Balthasar Denner FISH AND A CENTO stroys all in its path; he clearly regards the Before 1721 undoubtedly the best and the most famous FROM VIRGIL fossilized fish as a victim of the (biblical) Canvas example of these highly detailed virtuoso Flood. At a time when most scholars inter- Vienna, portraits; in 1721 Emperor Charles VI paid Engraved in 1543 Kunsthistorisches preted fossils as Nature playing games (ludi 4,700 guilders for it, an outrageously high price, Fossil: Anaethalion Museum, Picture knorri (de Blainville, naturae) and explained them in terms of Gallery and counted it among his greatest treasures. 1818), ray-finned fish Earth’s mysterious powers (vis plastica), this Years later the Habsburg ruler commissioned Solnhofen, Germany, was a truly revolutionary viewpoint. The the artist to produce a male counterpart, which 150 million years old Roman numerals M.D.XLIII date the artefact is now also in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. (Jura) Vienna, Natural History to ad 1543, making it the oldest physical evi- Museum, Geological- dence of the correct interpretation of fossils Edmund de Waal: Paleontological as formerly living organisms. Mesmerism is the ability to own someone else. Department She owns you. Her gaze excoriates. You are Edmund de Waal: judged. »Hereupon, the almighty father descended from the high ether in wild rage: he sends surges into the country, sending floods and unbinds heaven to hell. He destroys the land, annihilates the farmland, the endeavour of oxen is in vain. The ditches fill up, the rivers are swelling, and he condemns all domestic and wild animals to death.« 23 Medieval craftsmen used glass spheres filled 24 A steep mound pierced by a bizarre fountain with water to collect light and focus it on their dominates an animated ideal landscape. In workplace; this made it possible to enhance the foreground we see Adam and Eve seated ROCK CRYSTAL the light cast by a candle or to direct daylight THE GARDEN OF inside a fantastic hollowed-out fruit, a motive NIGHT LIGHT deep into the interior of the workshop, allow- EDEN frequently encountered in Bosch’s composi- ing work to continue during the darker hours tions. Additional composite plants grow Follower of Salzburg?, c. 1700 of the day. Entries in old inventories suggest around the fountain, which is decorated with Rock crystal, silver gilt Hieronymus Bosch that this rock crystal sphere was not produced figures and ornaments and has attracted nu- Vienna, c. 1540/50 Kunsthistorisches only to provide light: it is also in itself a de- Oak panel merous animals. This Garden of Eden is clear- Museum, Kunstkammer piction of the contrasts between day and night, Vienna, ly informed by Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Kunsthistorisches light and darkness, as the circular opening of Earthly Delights (Madrid, Museo del Prado); Museum, Picture the hollow sphere, which is on a swivel, is Gallery the anonymous artist has made use of motifs framed by an aureole, and a crescent moon is invented by Bosch but has varied and altered incised into the opposite side. The faint moon them in his composition. is thus contrasted with the much stronger sun. It may possibly have been intended to project Edmund de Waal: images of the two heavenly bodies. Whose paradise is this? This hill is alive, un- steady, leaning, propped, contingent. There is Edmund de Waal: a fountain cut into the hillside. Some creatures, In the depths of the night, light is precious. a random pig. A naked man and a woman are Starlight, embers from the fire, a candle. taking shelter. Stuff is happening. The fountain During the day you cannot remember what looks like an eye. In the distance a mountain the watches of the night feel like. is on fire. 25 A number of extant depictions show that the 27–29 In classical antiquity, precious and semi- rulers of the late Roman/early Byzantine Em- precious stones credited with special powers pire wore cloaks gathered and closed with a were worn as amulets and talismans; it was FIBULA fibula at their right shoulder. These sumptu- MAGICAL GEMSTONES believed they would protect or cure the wear- ous pieces of jewellery typically feature a large er, or ensure the assistance of the gods. They nd Late antique Roman (?), Roman, 2 century centrally mounted precious stone and delicate were decorated with hybrid creatures combin- second third of Vienna, Kunsthis- 5th century pendant gold chains. Not a single imperial fibu- torisches Museum, ing elements taken from ancient Egyptian, Gold, onyx, garnet, la has come down to us but similar artefacts Collection of Greek and Greek and Jewish (less frequently Christian) Roman Antiquities amethyst, glass paste were found at sites located outside the bor- images as well as magical inscriptions and Vienna, ders of the Roman Empire. They functioned signs or symbols. For example, the seven let- Kunsthistorisches HARPOCRATES ON A Museum, Collection as Rome’s gifts to allied or friendly rulers. This LOTUS FLOWER ters of the name Abrasax (or Abraxas) allude of Greek and Roman onyx fibula, for example, was included in the to the seven days of the week and the seven Medium-brown sard Antiquities richly endowed burial of a (presumably) Ger- planets then known; furthermore, their nu- manic prince. merical values amount to 365, the number of Adopt TER- A MAS days in a year. Edmund de Waal: PIECE 26 This is your third eye. They are apotropaic: Edmund de Waal: they turn back malevolence. Wear this and A RIDER WITH A Condensed power: a snake, a lion, a horse- ONYX FIBULA watch. DOUBLE AXE VAN- man with a double axe, some numbers and QUISHING AN ENEMY letters, all the years. Roman, 3rd century Gold (pierced work), Heliotrope multi-layered onyx Vienna, A SERPENT AND Kunsthistorisches THE INSCRIPTION Museum, Collection »ABRAXAS« of Greek and Roman Antiquities Light-grey chalcedony, mounted in a modern gold ring

Adopt TER- A MAS PIECE 30 This paper-thin gold foil is inscribed in Greek 31 A bezoar is an indigestible mass found in the with a twelve-line love charm: after evoking intestinal system of bezoar goats, lamas and the »name of Aphrodite« (»ónoma Aphro- other ruminants. The term derives from the AMULET WITH dites«), it lists magical names and calls upon BEZOAR MOUNTED Persian word for antitoxin, bâd-sahr. During LOVE CHARM the god Mithras. A line separates this first IN GOLD FILIGREE the Middle Ages and the early Modern Era section from a second that includes a request popular superstition regarded the bezoar as a Roman, 1st or 2nd century Goa, 17th century for the favour of »all men and women« and »health stone« and ground bezoar mixed with Gold foil Bezoar, gold filigree Vienna, especially for the affection of the wearer’s be- Vienna, some liquid was therefore prescribed by doc- Kunsthistorisches loved. Tiny inscribed plates like this one were Kunsthistorisches tors for such ailments as the plague and de- Museum, Collection often worn around the neck, rolled up in a Museum, Kunstkammer pression; Emperor Rudolf II, for example, set of Greek and Roman (Ambras Castle capsule, as amulets. This one was found with great store by it as a remedy for his melan- Antiquities Innsbruck) other pieces of jewellery in a small wooden choly. Elaborately mounted bezoars were used casket placed inside a sarcophagus. at princely banqueting tables and were fre- quently dipped in food and drink in order to Edmund de Waal: 32 detect the presence of poison. Wanting someone is boundless. It is danger- ous. To invoke Mithras brings all kinds of Edmund de Waal: danger in its train. What are you creating with BEZOAR GOBLET Look at them again. Their shape is ungainly. this sliver of gold? What happens of gold? Wrap them up, hold them tight, try to keep Jan Vermeyen What happens next? their power safe. Prague, c. 1600 Bezoar, gold, partially enamelled Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Kunstkammer

Adopt TER- A MAS PIECE 33 This piece of late medieval tableware, crafted 34 This exceptional painting was only recently as a bouquet of flowers spiked with fossilized identified as a work by Trophîme Bigot, not sharks’ teeth, bears witness to an ancient least on account of the watermark visible in ADDERS’ TONGUES superstition: the petrified teeth were long SCREAMING MAN the paper of the lampshade, which functions CREDENCE thought to be adders’ tongues, which were as his trademark in a number of his composi- Trophîme Bigot credited with the power to identify poison in tions. Celebrated for his Caravaggesque noc- Nuremberg?, c. 1450 c. 1615/20 Silver gilt, fossilized food. These precious artefacts were placed on Canvas turnal scenes, Bigot was known as »Trufe- sharks’ teeth, citrine a prince’s banqueting table to warn him should Vienna, mondi« – someone adept at deceiving or fool- Vienna, his food or drink be tainted. Their use de- Kunsthistorisches ing people with his compositions. The panic- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Picture clined once the true nature of these petrified stricken reaction depicted here has been Museum, Kunstkammer Gallery objects gained acceptance. Only two other caused by a harmless but effective illusion: a such pieces have survived: one in the Grünes candle placed in a hollowed-out pumpkin so Gewölbe in , and one in the Treasury scares a man that he is taking to his heels. of the Teutonic Order in Vienna. The spectator becomes the accomplice of the boy playing the trick and is invited to share Edmund de Waal: his enjoyment in having successfully pulled it This is a strange flowering. The blooms are off. tongues. It is speaking of the dense secrets of poison. Every day at court, every evening at Edmund de Waal: the table, there is a press of people. How do The artist Bigot paints Judith and Holofernes, you protect yourself when you are surround- Saint Laurence Condemned to Torture, Saint ed by so much talking, so many people who Sebastian. Everything he paints is night-time, wish you ill? a guttering candle, lit by a lantern. His spe- ciality is shock. Just how funny is a scream- ing man? 35 Legend has it that at the age of eighteen, 36–39 Renaissance collectors loved corals, presum- Catherine of Alexandria, the erudite and beau- ably because scholars were still debating tiful daughter of King Costus, tried to convert whether coral was animal, vegetable or min- MARTYRDOM OF Emperor Maxentius to Christianity. When the RED CORALS eral. Even in antiquity corals had been har- SAINT CATHERINE Roman emperor had her tortured, God sent vested off the coasts of Sicily and Liguria, as an angel to destroy the instruments of torture. Southern Italy well as off Corsica and Sardinia, which still Joachim Patinir (Trapani), third Patinir depicts this drama in miniature format boasted large stocks in the sixteenth century. c. 1515 quarter of 16th century; Oak panel but with great verve. The sword hovering over presumably 18th century At Ambras Castle Archduke Ferdinand II Vienna, the saint’s head is a reference to her subse- (base) (1529–1595) assembled the period’s largest and Kunsthistorisches quent beheading. The painting is regarded as Corals, plaster, wood most fantastic coral collection, rivalled only Museum, Picture Innsbruck, Ambras one of Patinir’s early works, and probably by the Kunstkammer in the Residenz in Mun- Gallery Castle dates from before he became a member of the ich: it comprised corals in all shapes and Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1515. Adopt sizes, from unworked pieces to carved figures, TER- A MAS all of which were arranged in display cabinets PIECE Edmund de Waal: constructed like little theatrical stages. A blue day. The boats at sea. A shepherd. A man ploughing a field. A young woman is 40 Edmund de Waal: being killed. Ovid tells the story of coral. Perseus has killed Medusa. After his victory he washes his hands BLACK CORAL in seawater drawn for him and, »so that Me- dusa’s head, covered with its snakes, is not Southern Italy bruised by the harsh sand, he makes the (Trapani), third ground soft with leaves, and spreads out quarter of 16th century; presumably 18th century plants from below the waves and places the (base) head on them. The fresh plants, still living in- Corals, plaster, wood side, and absorbent, respond to the influence Innsbruck, Ambras of the Gorgon’s head and harden at its touch, Castle acquiring a new rigidity in branches and Adopt fronds. And the ocean nymphs try out this TER- A MAS wonder on more plants, and are delighted that PIECE 41 the same thing happens at its touch, and re- 42 The smaller, two-legged rock crystal dragon peat it by scattering the seeds from the plants is superior in quality compared to its compan- through the waves. Even now corals have the ion, but it has lost its wings: only the pegs to BLACK CORAL same nature, hardening at a touch of air, and DRAGON with which they were once attached remain. what was alive under the water, above water four legs Though chipped in a number of places, the Origin unknown, is turned to stone.« (broken) larger, four-legged dragon has retained its presumably 18th century Corals, wood wings and is in a more complete state. With Milan?, second half of Vienna, Natural History their raised heads and wide-open mouths these 17th century Museum, Old Collection Rock crystal monstrous creatures of fable seem to be spew- Vienna, ing fire – an ingenious play on the precious Kunsthistorisches and clear yet hard and intractable material Museum, Kunstkammer from which they are carved: since antiquity, rock crystal had been regarded as the never- melting ice of the gods. 43 Edmund de Waal: I found this pair of broken dragons in the mu- DRAGON with two seum store and thought of the Book of Reve- legs (broken) lation: »And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and Milan?, second half of the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed 17th century Rock crystal not; neither was their place found any more in Vienna, heaven.« Kunsthistorisches Museum, Kunstkammer 44 This silver-mounted faceted rock crystal »jar« 45 This small figure of a devil incorporated into rests on four elegant claw feet; set into the lid a solid glass prism was originally in the col- is a circular gilt plaque showing an Annunci- lection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614– RELIQUARY (THE ation originally executed in polychrome en- DEVIL IN A GLASS 1662); the 1659 inventory lists it as a »small ANNUNCIATION) amels. The reliquary holds a cap said to have square glass, with a pointed top, that contains German, first half of belonged to St Stephen, King of Hungary th a black figure in the shape of a devil« (»klein Germany?, second 17 century († 1038); although presumably worn under a viereckendte[s] Glasz, oben gespizt, war in ein quarter of 14th century Glass, iron? Rock crystal, silver crown, it was, in fact, produced later. As a reli- Vienna, schwarcze Figur in Gestalt eines Teüffels«, mount, black paint quary the jar was admired more for religious Kunsthistorisches fol. 472v). By 1720 it was in the Treasury in Museum, Kunstkammer Vienna, than for artistic reasons but deprived of its Vienna and was described as a »spiritus fa- Kunsthistorisches (Ambras Castle relic it has now been reduced to its precious miliaris in a glass that was driven out of one Museum, Ecclesiastical Innsbruck) Treasury materiality. possessed and banned to this glass« (»spiri- tus familiaris in einem Glas, so ehemals von Adopt Edmund de Waal: TER- einem Besessenen ausgetrieben und in dieses A MAS An empty space. The storied air. PIECE Glas verbannet worden«). In the Middle Ages it was widely believed that the Devil could take possession of a human body. This arte- fact was regarded as evidence of a successful exorcism.

Edmund de Waal: As Freud reflected, »No one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human beast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed.« Keep your devils in close sight. 46 Fascinated by nature both animate and inani- 47–49 Mandrakes (Mandragora officinalis) were re- mate, Savery produced countless landscapes garded as magical plants and the shape of featuring a wealth of domesticated and wild their roots made them especially susceptible LANDSCAPE WITH animals for his many aristocratic patrons. As NATURA FORMATRIX to interpretation as humanoid figures. Both ANIMALS (IN THE well as paying tribute to the huge variety of the »Eppendorf mandrake« and the mandrake CRUCIFIX BACKGROUND species known at the time, he also expanded crucifix, however, are carved from a different, (MANDRAKE) ORPHEUS AND THE his paradisiac settings by including miniature- as yet unidentified wood. Their »wondrous« THRACIAN WOMEN) like scenes. In the background to the right, we German?, 16th century character earned them a place in the Kunst- see a group of Thracian women emerging Wood, grasses kammer collections of Emperor Rudolf II and Roelant Savery Innsbruck, Ambras like shadows from a cave; they are attacking Archduke Ferdinand II. The handstone with c. 1618 Castle Oak panel Orpheus, who has withdrawn into solitude a bearded man also features a deliberate blur- Vienna, to grieve for his beloved Eurydice. Roused HANDSTONE WITH A ring of distinctions between Art and Nature: Kunsthistorisches by the screams of the rampaging women, BEARDED MAN various ores have been worked into a figure Museum, Picture the frightened animals are dispersing in all that at first glance appears to comprise a nat- Gallery Workshop of Caspar directions. ural unworked body and an artificial head. Ulich Sankt Joachimsthal Edmund de Waal: (Jáchymov), second half Edmund de Waal: th What do you know of the death of Orpheus? of 16 century These scare me. They are barely human. They Acanthite, silver gilt, The river Helicon sinks underground where are totemic, their strangeness increased by the minerals they have tried to wash their bloodstained Vienna, Kunsthistorisches crown of pearls, the gilded stand. hands. They threw sticks and stones at him. Museum, Kunstkammer He kept playing. They tore him apart. His head EPPENDORF and lyre float away. Music is dangerous. MANDRAKE

Hamburg, before 1480; 17th century (crown of pearls) Cabbage stalk?, pearls Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ecclesiastical Treasury 50 These portraits of Emperor Joseph I (1678– 52 & 53 The human skull has always been regarded as 1711) and Elector Joseph Clemens, Duke of the symbol par excellence of life’s transience. Bavaria and Archbishop of Cologne (1671– The Baroque loved virtuoso artefacts that 1723), are carved into the coral in such a way VANITAS HEADS functioned as a reminder of death. Perhaps Bust of ELECTOR that the natural shape of the precious mater- (MEMENTO MORI) the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’ JOSEPH CLEMENS ial remains clearly visible. Before our eyes ever-present vanitas allegorising was but the OF BAVARIA Nature seems to evolve into a work produced German, first half of converse of their frequently noted sensuality 17th century South German, first by man, a formerly living organism turns into and joie de vivre. Particularly terrifying are quarter of 18th century Ivory an artefact. This places the two busts in the heads with faces half-preserved and/or crawl- White coral Vienna, Vienna, tradition of the »transformative artworks« Kunsthistorisches ing with serpents that remind us of man’s cer- Kunsthistorisches produced in the sixteenth and seventeenth Museum, Kunstkammer tain death and ultimate decay. The intention Museum, Kunstkammer century that evolved out of the concept of the here is to appeal directly to the beholder’s Kunstkammer as a place for learned discourse emotions. on the relationship between Art and Nature. 51 Edmund de Waal: Edmund de Waal: »When you have lost your closest human Watch carefully. being every thing seems empty to you, look Full fathom five thy father lies where ever you like, everything is empty, and bust of EMPEROR Of his bones are coral made. you look and look and you see that every- JOSEPH I Those are pearls that were his eyes. thing is really empty and, what is more, for South German, first Nothing of him that doth fade, ever.« (Thomas Bernhard) quarter of 18th century But doth suffer a sea-change White coral Vienna, Into something rich and strange. Kunsthistorisches Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell. Museum, Kunstkammer 54–57 These reliquaries were commissioned at a time 58 Edmund de Waal: when the House of Habsburg, firm in the be- Not all objects give solace. They metamorph- lief that God had assigned it a leading role in ose in the passages of the night, they bring both the Empire and the Church, was acting DURING THE NIGHT anxiety with them. In this vitrine are broken RELIQUARIES as vanguard and sponsor of the Counter- pieces of porcelain, silver aluminium boxes, Edmund de Waal South German, c. 1600 Reformation. Initially the Reformation had lead shot, cut pieces of lead sheet and black 2016 Gold, silver, partially swept the Habsburg domains, but from the 55 porcelain vessels, vessels glazed with oxides. This is my own gilt, brass, enamel, second half of the sixteenth century the im- porcelain shards, tin kind of Kunstkammer, my site of wonder, hardwood, ebony, boxes, lead shot, lead precious and semi- perial house forcibly encouraged its subjects beauty and danger. and COR-TEN steel precious stones, pearls, to return to the Catholic faith. In a conscious elements in an acrylic glass, textiles effort to distance the faithful from the »Prot- glass and aluminium Vienna, estants«, they promoted a typically Catholic vitrine Kunsthistorisches Courtesy Gagosian Museum, Ecclesiastical practice: the veneration of relics. Catholic dig- Gallery Treasury nitaries and princes presented each other with sumptuously mounted reliquaries to strength-

Adopt en ties and alliances. The imperial family re- TER- A MAS ceived the »Stanislaw Reliquary« on show IECE P here from the bishop of Cracow Cardinal Jerzy (George) Radziwill, while the table reliquary was a gift from Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria.

Edmund de Waal: These are obsession. Keep a fingernail, an eyelash, a scraping of bone, a tooth, and hold it tight with glass and gold and silver and ivory and prayer. edition Edmund de Waal on his edition, which he de- signed on the occasion of his exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna: fault line is my first ever edition using porcel- ain. I made a very substantial porcelain ves- sel and glazed it with a soft, dark, black bas- alt glaze, its texture like stone. And then I broke it into fifty shards. Each of these has been gilded on one of its edges. There is a beautiful tradition in Japan of marking the moment of fracture for a special object with a seam of gold: each one more valuable for its brokenness than before. fault line will be scattered around the world, but in its mem- ory is a single, complete vessel.

The fault line edition of Edmund de Waal can be purchased through Bärbel Holaus (+43 1 525 24 – 4035, [email protected]) or at the gift shop in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. fault line, I-L Price: € 600 apiece 2016 50 gilded porcelain shards from one broken vessel, each on a wood and felt plinth Plinth: 2 x 12 x 12 cm ADOPT A Did you perhaps fall in love with a particular 29 MAGICAL GEMSTONE: MASTERPIECE artwork during your visit and would like to HARPOCRATES ON A LOTUS become its patron? FLOWER AND MAGICAL Your Adopt-a-Masterpiece Membership is a INSCRIPTIONS substantial contribution to the preservation of Collection of Greek and Roman Adopt TER- our artistic heritage for future generations. Antiquities, inv. no. IXb 1194 A MAS PIECE Your donation as a patron provides direct and Adoption of the masterpiece: € 300 lasting support for vital scientific documenta- tion and research as well as the restoration 32 Bezoar-Goblet and presentation of artworks in the collections Kunstkammer, inv. no. KK 3259 of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Adoption of the masterpiece: € 1,200 Get close to art and adopt a masterpiece! 36–39 Red Corals www.khm.at/Adopt-a-Masterpiece Ambras, inv. nos. PA 972, PA 985, PA 990, PA 995 13 Serpent Adoption of the masterpiece: € 500 apiece Collection of Historical Musical Instruments, inv. no. SAM 237 40 Black Coral Adoption of the masterpiece: € 1,000 Ambras, inv. no. PA 966 Adoption of the masterpiece: € 500 20 PAlimpsest: Opera Omnis Platonis 45 Devil in a glass Library, inv. no. 5500 Kunstkammer, inv. no. KK 6211 Adoption of the masterpiece: € 1,000 (Ambras Castle) Adoption of the masterpiece: € 800 27 MAGICAL GEMSTONE: A SERPENT AND THE INSCRIPTION »ABRAXAS« 57 RELIQUARY OF SAINT STANISLAUS Collection of Greek and Roman Ecclesiastical Treasury, inv. no. D 112 Antiquities, inv. no. IXb 1213 Adoption of the masterpiece: € 800 Adoption of the masterpiece: € 300 Late night Join us on a fascinating night-long journey STUDIO Nach(t)-Bilder – Traum-Bilder through the new exhibition by Edmund Art class in the context of the exhibition de Waal and look forward to guided tours, 10, 17 and 14 November readings and lectures on the subject »During 1, 8, 15 and 22 December the Night«… Thursdays, 6pm – 8.30pm In German Sat 26 November, 7pm – 3am Costs: € 210 (incl. material)

Guided Tours Thu, 7pm Children’s Nacht-Gestalten – Eine bunte Welt im Dunkeln Sat/Sun, 11am and 15pm workshop Age: 6 – 12 years Duration: c. 60 min. 23 and 30 October Meeting point: Entrance Hall 13 and 27 November Fee: € 3 4 and 18 December In German 15 and 29 January Sundays, 2pm – 4.30pm In German curator’s tours 9 November Venue: Studio with Jasper sharp 14 December Fees: children € 4, accompanying adults € 11 18 January Material costs: € 4 Wednesdays, 4pm Reservations: Duration: c. 60 min. Mon–Fri, 9am – 4pm, Meeting point: Entrance Hall +43 1 525 24 – 5202, [email protected]

GUIDED TOUR Albrecht Dürer LED BY ANDREAS Meeting point: Entrance Hall ZIMMERMANN Wed 30 November, 4pm In German Private tours Do you want to learn more about our exhibition? Book a private tour for yourself, for your friends or for your company! Contact us: Education dept. T +43 1 525 24 – 5202 [email protected]

EXHIBITION Sabine Haag and Jasper Sharp (eds.), CATALOGUE Edmund de Waal. During the Night ISBN 978-3-99020-124-4

OPENING HOURS 11 October 2016 – 29 January 2017 Tue–Sun, 10am – 6pm Thu, 9pm

greetings from We will post this postcard for you to an EU the kunsthistori- address. Just drop it into the postbox in the sches Museum museum shop.