The magnificent catalogue for the exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim (2012, 239 pages) contains, among other things, images of a large tapestry "The Moor Queen" with a star tortoise (Paris 1774), a powder flask (2nd half of the 16th century, length 15 cm) made from the shell of a Greek tortoise, with limbs that are reproduced in silver in a lifelike manner (see my own illustration on page 86 of the catalogue and the powder flask from my collection) and a heart-shaped bottle made of tortoise shell and silver (16th century, height 26.3 cm). It is not yet clear where the piece comes from. The editors are Dr. Sabine Haag and Prof. Dr. Alfried Wieczorek. In another illustrated book, "The Art Chamber - The Treasures of the Habsburgs" (Kunst Historisches Museum Wien, 303 pages), comparably noble objects can be seen, but particularly worthy of mention is a drinking horn (tortoiseshell) in the shape of a dragon standing on a tortoise, silver-gilded, acquired for the collection in Ambras Castle (Innsbruck), master by Cornelius Gross, Augsburg, around 1560. A third catalogue, "Dresden & Ambras" (2012, 239 pages), includes the art chambers (also "cabinets of curiosities"), founded by Elector August of Saxony and Archduke Ferdinand II. Here, too, tortoise shells and art objects made of tortoiseshell are among the extremely valuable collections. Also worth mentioning is the art and curiosities chamber of Trausnitz Castle in Landshut. After the princely art chambers, for example, important bourgeois natural history cabinets were established, which usually specialized more in this area (see Albertus Seba). [hint: this is an automatic translation from German]   |   Category: Art books   |   Material: Papier   |   Country of origin: Bavaria, Germany | Similar pieces