The Treasures of Vienna

The exhibit known as he Kunstkammer Wien, or Treasure Chamber of Vienna, has come home to Vienna after ten years on the road while its space was remodeled. When a noble family lasts as long as the Hapsburgs did, they can accumulate and extraordinary amount of loot. Above, the famous salt cellar by Benvenuto Cellini, of which the artist wrote,

to show how the Sea is combined with the Earth, I made two figures a good palm high sitting next to each other with intertwined feet, just as we see the arms of the Sea running into the Earth. The Sea, depicted as a man, held a richly wrought ship that could hold sufficient salt, with four seahorses under it and the figure holding a trident in his right hand. I showed Earth as a woman, with such a beautiful figure and as graceful as I knew how. Beside her I placed a rich, decorated temple on the ground to hold pepper.

This object has a fairly typical history for this collection:

It was commissioned by François I during the artist's stay in Paris in 1540-1543 and was subsequently given by Charles IX to Ferdinand II of Tyrol when the latter represented the king at his wedding with Archduchess Elizabeth in 1570.

A 17th-century Russian friendship cup, another wedding present.

An 11th-century oliphant. This was given to a monastery in 1199, but then given back to the Hapsburgs in 1702.

Ewer made for use in coronations by Christoph Janitz in 1602.

A writing set made around 1560 by Wenzel Jamnitzer.

A bezoar. The setting dates to the sixteenth century, but who knows when the goat vomited this up. Seriously; a bezoar is a sort of stone made in the stomach of a ruminant, usually a goat. They were believed to have great powers against poison.

Rhinocerous horn goblet by Nikolaus Pfaff, ca. 1611. Those are actual boar's tusks on either side of the demonic head.