The Kunstkammer object in seventeenth-century Salzburg : a case study, early modern collections, transformation and materiality

• Main Author: Mitchell, Sarah
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 2005
• Subjects: Cabinets of curiosities > Austria > Salzburg; Collectors and collecting > Austria > Salzburg > History > 17th century; Salzburg (Austria) > Intellectual life
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=83130

The phenomenon of princely and scientific collections that proliferated in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has become an important focus for modern historical analysis. These collections provide a microcosm of contemporary political, economic and philosophical ideas, often characterized by geographical and cultural differences. The mid-seventeenth century Kunst- and Wunderkammer studied here, instituted by the archbishops of Salzburg, brings forward themes sometimes neglected in the literature. The archbishops' collection was part of broader efforts to reinvent the city of Salzburg as a representation of both sacred and secular authority. Strategies for significant display were derived from religious and imperial ritual, drawing on the potential of objects as signifiers. In this context, I also examine some of the debates within the literature on princely and scientific collections, where the study of wonder and science begins to merge in cross-disciplinary scholarship. Finally, I highlight the role of transformation and materiality in these collections to argue that the act of collecting objects and the act of making were imbricated in the process of self-definition. Within themes of technology and process, I investigate the pursuit of creating Kunstkammer objects, as well as the business of their display and use in diplomacy.