BAVARIAN TREASURES
The Munich Residenz, the sublime palace of the Wittelsbach Dukes and Kings of Bavaria, is fascinating for many reasons: Leo von Klenze’s neoclassical interiors and 1830 Pitti-ish façade, Duke Albrecht V’s vast Renaissance Antiquarium, the relics, with saints’ skulls in pearl-embroidered settings. The greatest pleasure is to be had in the Schatzkammer – Treasury – where the surviving collections of the family are brought together in an explosion of luxury, craftsmanship and beauty that is completely overwhelming. The gold and enamel cross, above, was commissioned by Queen Gisela of Hungary around 1010, for her mother’s tomb at Regensburg. An agate cup set in gold, below, was made in Nuremberg by Melchior Baier in 1536.
Middle left above is a 14th century Venetian rock crystal bowl, its enamelled gold setting made in London c1540 as a drinking cup for Henry VIII to designs by Holbein. Taken from the Jewel Tower, Westminster, it was in the Sale of the Late King’s Goods after Charles I’s ‘execution’ in 1649. Latin inscriptions on the lid allude to the virtues of sobriety; on the base, to the pleasures of drinking. Details, above, of the absurdly beautiful and refined House Altar of Albrecht V, enamelled gold on ebony, made in Augsburg, 1573. Of all these crazy treasures, none is more astounding than the famous Knight of St George, below, a figure of the saint with rock crystal sword pointed at the dragon, prone beneath his mount’s hooves. The figures, of agate, chalcedony and enamelled gold were made for Wilhelm V, Albrecht V’s son, in 1592, on an ebony base that held a relic of St George, foolishly replaced in 1612 by the present, silver gilt base. If the knight’s visor is raised, Wilhelm’s bearded face is revealed, carved in boxwood. The insane luxury and beauty of the work, the fine arabesque ornament set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds inset or hanging, truly defies belief.
