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Moors & Africans in Green Vault, Dresden

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Moor with Emerald Level, Balthasar Permoser (sculptor), Wilhelm Kruger (sculptor), Johann Melchior Dinglinger (jeweler). Emerald: Gift of 1581; jewelery and sculptural works: probably 1724. Pear wood, painted, silver, gold, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, topazes, garnets, almandine, tortoiseshell, Emerald; 63.8 x 29.0 x 31.0 cm, H 58 cm without crown. VIII 303. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013

The statuette would be without the Baroque interior design of the Green Vault 1723-1724 did not occur, because it owes its existence to the desire of Augustus the Strong, set up a treasure of his art collection in the new museum treasury. It was here in 1581 as a gift from the Emperor Rudolf II to Elector August came, occupied with sixteen sometimes very large emerald crystals chunks of limonitic rocks. The dark green gems come from a few years earlier developed emerald mine in Chivor-Somondoco (Colombia). At the behest of Elector Augustus should this "natural wonder" in the "Chur-Princely bull and tribal, to eternal Gedächtnüß" be preserved. Balthasar Permoser created for the expansion since 1723 in the nascent treasury museum that really most original of all possible means of presentation, the sculpture of a "Moor". The young, powerful man in dark brown lacquered pearwood, the associated border on a tray of tortoiseshell presents casual and smooth the Colombian Emerald level, is not a resident of Africa but an Indian. Although facial features and skin color are a black African, but the body tattoos ethnological exactly represented have him as well as a a Native of Florida, as well as the precious necklace and bracelets, jewelry chest, the feathered crown, the loincloth and the footwear that in after an engraving Dinglinger workshop were designed. Whether the two richly tattooed American Prince, who came as prisoners of war the English Captain Pecht to Dresden in 1722, have had a role model for the Mohr statuettes, devoid of probative value. However, they must have been admired as a true exotic, because the chronicler Johann Christian Crell reported that after only three years of teaching both languages well-Saxon and were eventually baptized.

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Moor with country stone step, Johann Heinrich Köhler (jeweler), Dresden, 1724. Wood, painted, Silbererzstufe with Saxon gemstones: carnelian, amethyst, smoky topaz, copper, gold, brass, various color stones (partially foiled); 66.5 x 30.0 x 28.0 cm. V 156. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013. 

In his statement for the redesign of the brilliant set of Augustus the Strong of the Dresden court jeweler Johann Heinrich Köhler mentioned on 4 July 1724 the delivery of a "Moor" which he had equipped with body jewelry, feather crown and a "mountain Stuffe". The added artfully silver ores and gems of the Electorate of Saxony level should document the country's wealth in natural resources. Koehler demanded 31 dollars "before a large mountain Stuffe gathered and verguldete shell they worinne träget the Moor". Including the 164 dollars which will received Köhler for the entire decoration of the Moors, was the statuette, considering the enormous sums that got paid for his masterpieces of the jeweler Dinglinger an inexpensive Schatzkammerstück.Datierung and signature on the wooden base (BALTHASAR Permoser fecit 1712) were probably not until the end of the 19th Supplemented century. The statuette is not from the hand of the Dresden court sculptor, but was pretty sure in the immediate area and at the same time to the more important artistic "Moor with emerald stage" (VIII, 303). Both owe their existence sculptures expand the decision of August the Strong the Secret detention in Dresden from 1723 to the baroque castle treasury museum. Everything indicates that Permoser and Dinglinger in the form of Moors which bears the gift of the Emperor Rudolf II in 1581 Emerald level, a glamorous model created, finally responded to the Köhler with a less successful virtuoso Pendantstück. Whether the two richly tattooed American Prince, who came in 1722 as a prisoner of war in Dresden, have had a role model for the Mohr statuettes, devoid of probative value. Only after completion of the jewel room in the spring of 1729 found the two Moors statuettes, which are identified by their head and body jewelry as Native Florida, their final place in the treasury.

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Moor with monstrous pearlbowl, Balthasar Permoser (sculptor), Johann Melchior Dinglinger (Goldsmith), Dresden, about 1724. Wood, lacquer, gold, silver, gilt, enamel, precious stones, cameos, pearls, mother of pearl; H 19.9 cm, W 9.9 cm, depth 7.5 cm. VI 95. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013. 

Black-skinned people were well known at the Saxon court. As "chamber Moors" they were part of the Saxon-Polish paddock. August the Strong appeared at the Carnival parade of the year 1709 even themselves with face painted as "Moorish king" on horseback and in "Mohr accompaniment". The Africans and its counterpart (VI, 90) each present a pearl shell with tuberous grown Perlmutterstücken. Your noble in miniatures fine body jewelry clearly corresponds with that of the great "Moor with emerald stage", which was created in 1724 for the nascent treasury museum in the Green Vault (cf. VIII, 303).

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Moor with monstrous pearlbowl, Balthasar Permoser (sculptor), Johann Melchior Dinglinger (Goldsmith), Dresden, about 1724. Wood, lacquer, gold, silver, gilt, enamel, precious stones, cameos, pearls, mother of pearl. H 19.4 cm, W 10.0 cm, depth 7.6 cm. VI 90. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013.

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African Warrior, the bow swinging, Balthasar Permoser (sculptor), Johann Melchior Dinglinger (Goldsmith), Dresden, 1690-1700. Ebony, gold, silver, gilt, enamel, gemstones. H 11.0 cm, depth 4.5 cm with bow, Footprint: B 6.15 cm, D 4.0 cm. VI195. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013.

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African warrior with bow and arrow, Balthasar Permoser (sculptor), Johann Melchior Dinglinger (Goldsmith), Dresden, 1690-1700. Ebony, gold, silver, gilt, enamel, gemstones. H 10.9 cm Footprint: B 6.2 cm, D 4.1 cm, 4.5 cm T with bow. VI 196. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013.

Under "gallantry" was understood in the decades around 1700 in addition to precious small vessels and miniature-like, through detailed worked ivory and wood figurines, which were often studded with precious stones and precious sometimes mounted on pedestals. Such statuettes, which were collected by August the Strong in large numbers, belong to the oeuvre of Balthasar Permoser. For most of them, the court jeweler Johann Melchior Dinglingerhaus the body jewelry made of gold enamel, gems and tiny items such as bows and arrows. The artistic preoccupation with the exotic strangeness of the inhabitants of Africa, the Permoser carved out of solid black ebony, and were called "Moors chamber" part of the Saxon-Polish royal court, through his work. Among the earliest are the two "Moors with bow and arrow," which probably arose shortly before the 1700s. Here an African warrior swings his bow rejoicing, because the arrow reached the goal, while the other (VI, 196) has just shot his arrow.

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Africans, Balthasar Permoser (sculptor), Dresden to 1720-1725. Pear wood painted, gilded silver, pearl, precious stones. H 32.6 cm, W 13.5 cm, D 12.3 cm Footprint: 13.0 x 13.5 cm. VI 165. Green Vault© Dresden State Art Collections 2013.

Balthasar Permoser interest in the representation of exotic beauties pervades his entire creative life in Dresden. The earliest of his little Moor figurines of wood, which are characterized by their subtle modeling and elegance, created shortly after the 1700s. The jeweler Johann Melchior Dinglingerhaus summarized most of them to unique baroque treasure pieces, all the courtly taste of the early 18th Century corresponded. The two Africans as Kapitellträger seem closely related to each other by the counterplay of their movements, gestures and posture as husband and wife. You remember, albeit in a reduced version, in carved figurative, fairly stable> Mohr supports <, which served as Gueridons for parking chandelier and at the beginning of the 18th Century were gladly used. The carved from pear wood dark-skinned couple was placed on carried by turtles stand areas, established in those years, as Permoser had accomplished, for example, his first marble version of the Christ at the Column (Dresden Catholic Court), with the squatting satyr made of boxwood and the Mohr was with the Emerald level, one of the major works of the Green Vault, busy and has also been able to work on the monumental wooden figures of the Church Fathers Ambrose and Augustine, now in the Catholic Court Church in Dresden. These examples alone show the diversity of topics that Permoser has turned in his last decade of life with a sure sense of style and creative curiosity.


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