2009 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

... the head piece ...
Rüstkammer
... and the chest band
after restoration
• Ottoman ceremonial horse bridle, c.1714
Among the many objects which were
restored for the Türckische Cammer,
particular mention should be made of the
Ottoman ceremonial horse bridle listed
under inventory number L 9. It was purchased
in Turkey and came to Dresden via
Warsaw on 3rd November 1714. The bridle
consists of a chest band, a headstall and
a noseband. Originally the bridle was
accompanied by a saddle and a caparison,
neither of which has survived. The headstall
and the chest band are decorated
with cast, chased silver-gilt mountings
with stones set in flower-shaped mountings
and enamel. The stones are rock crystal
set against painted backings and lined
with red or green foil. The decorative
mountings, which are arranged in groups
of three, are positioned over a silver border
and fixed onto the base strap. Entries in
the inventories between 1719 and 1821
contain records concerning the loss of
various stones. It is worth noting that the
photographs taken of the carved wooden
horses with oriental bridles in the Johanneum
in 1927 show that many of the
flower-shaped mountings in the central
rosettes on the chest band still existed
at that time. Now, all nine of the flowershaped
mountings were missing prior to
restoration. Furthermore, the enamel
Satan at the feet of the Archangel
Michael, c.1520, Zeitz, Skulpturensammlung:
after removal of
overpainting ...
was partly or completely broken, other
stones and mountings and three mountings
on the headstall were missing. Fortunately,
the Sächsische Landes- und Universitätsbibliothek
Dresden (Saxon State and
University Library) holds all the glass plate
negatives of the photographs taken in the
Johanneum. It was therefore possible to
produce photographic enlargements of
the flower-shaped mountings that had
been lost. These flower-shaped mountings
were then reconstructed on the basis of
these photographs.
The mountings on the noseband and
headstall could be replaced by copying
existing mountings. These were cast and
then galvanos were produced. In addition,
certain areas of the leather straps were
torn and the silver border had areas of
damage and tearing. Also, earlier unsuitable
additions to the leather straps had
to be removed.
... and after restoration
Skulpturensammlung
• Antique sculptures
As was the case last year, numerous restoration
projects were completed, continued
or begun ahead of the installation of the
planned new permanent exhibition of
the collection and in preparation for the
exhibition “Verwandelte Götter. Antike
Skulpturen des Museo del Prado zu Gast
in Dresden“ (Transformed Gods. Classical
Sculptures from the Museo del Prado on
View in Dresden), which opened in the
Japanisches Palais on 20th May. The need
for restoration is still particularly great in
the case of the classical sculptures and
their Baroque additions. Among the works
restored for the exhibition was, for example,
the “Pan-Nymph Group”. This work
consists of fragments of very different,
famous antique sculptures dating from
the Hellenistic period. The group was
assembled in Rome during the 17th or
early 18th century out of a wide variety of
individual pieces of classical sculpture.
Missing parts, such as the two heads, the
arms of the nymph and the base decorated
with tufts of grass, were replaced with
specially made additions by contemporary
sculptors. In about 1900 the group was
taken apart. However, since there is no
other work in the Dresden antiquities
collection that so vividly demonstrates
the working methods of restorers in the
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