Amber in Vienna Art Museum Collections

Gerhard Pucsala

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The Vienna Museum of Art possesses rich amber treasures in its various collections. But only a few of them, rare pieces, are exhibited. Most of them belong to various collections in the department of Decorative Arts, the Sculpture Collection and the Ecclesiastical Treasury. They come to light for specific exhibitions, such as Amber for Throne and Altar which ran from October 2005 to January 2006.
Moreover, the Department of Decorative Arts is about to undergo redevelopment and it will open in new splendours in the future. When this happens, many pieces of amber art, such as cabinets, bowls, candlesticks, jewellery and decorative elements of everyday life will be shown to the public.
The Ecclesiastical Treasury is not located in the main building of the Vienna Museum of Arts at the Ringstrasse. It has its own home at the imperial court of Vienna, at Schweizerhof, just opposite of the Royal Secular Treasury. There are two amber pieces on permanent display there: a large amber altar and a small one with the sculpture of Virgin Mary, from the times of Ferdinand III. The most important artefact in the Ecclesiastical Treasury collection of amber works is the large amber altar which is almost two metres in height. It dates from around 1645 and came to Vienna as a diplomatic gift. It was presented to Emperor Leopold I by Elector Frederick III in connection with the latter's coronation as King of Prussia in 1701. The collection of the Ecclesiastical Treasury also lets one discover various small private altars, crucifixion groups, ewers used during Holy Mass and rosaries.
The larger number of secular works, most of them to be found in the Department of Decorative Arts, include small cabinets, boxes, goblets, candlesticks, statuettes etc. They were made mainly in Königsberg and Gdansk and were presented to ducal courts in the course of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. Amber gifts were a specially important part of Prussia's diplomacy and were often presented to the Habsburg emperors and archdukes.
The outstanding pieces in the collection of the Vienna Museum of Art cover a period from the Middle Ages up to the 18 th century, documenting the complexity and variety of the collections of the Vienna Museum of Art (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien).


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