Order and aura of courtly things: the Dresden Kunstkammer of the 16th and 17th centuries as a place of political interaction, dynastic memoria and princely knowledge practice

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthias Müller
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 440653566

Founded under Elector August in the late sixteenth century, systematized by his son Christian I for the first time and enlarged under Johann Georg I in the seventeenth century, the project places with the Dresden “Kunstkammer” a courtly collection type and location at the center of the investigation, that is better suited than any other to focus on the one hand to show the material and symbolic meaning of things in the context of courtly cultural practices and on the other to analyze the dynamic processes associated with the exchange, transfer and arrangement of things. These included, in particular, the interactions taking place between their princely owners and the courtly and out-of-court recipients on the occasion of mutual visits or mediated through legations or by correspondence. As a result, the “Kunstkammer” and its objects within the Dresden Castle were purposefully designed into a central location for political-dynastic interaction and memory maintenance, as well as a demonstration of sovereignty, whose categories and systematics as well as their spatial disposition deserve closer examination. The study period is consciously limited on the time of the 16th and 17th centuries, i. the reign of Elector August to Elector Johann Georg III, since the inventory of the Dresden “Kunstkammer” under August the Strong and his son in various special collections divided and thus the original, for this research project essential connection of the various collection items was resolved.The history of the Dresden “Kunstkammer” has been extensively researched in recent years by the “Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden”. Despite the very good preparatory work, it was not possible to systematically analyze key aspects of the content structure or arrangement of things, their function and their symbolic meaning within the scope of the basic work done so far. This applies above all to the material and symbolic significance of things in the context of courtly cultural practices, the processes of intercultural, princely-dynastic interaction connected with the exchange and transfer of things, the resulting political dimension of the “Kunstkammer” and those in the tools and instruments visible aspect of the practical Prince, as well as the question of the importance of non-European collection objects for the systematization and generation of knowledge of remote parts of the world at that time, and finally the proportion of princesses in the thematic orientation of the “Kunstkammer” and the selection and arrangement of things. In addition, there is no systematic comparison with other imperial or imperial art chambers (especially in Vienna, Prague and Munich) of the 16th and 17th centuries.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Dirk Syndram