Dionysio Miseroni
Today we have something special for you. It is an emerald vessel, created in Prague in the 17th century. The vessel can now be seen in the Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures exhibition curated by the director Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf for the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The vessel was commissioned by the Habsburg king, Emperor Ferdinand III, in 1641. It was carved out of a single large emerald crystal of Colombian origin, probably over 3,000 carats in weight, perhaps the largest emerald discovered in the world at that time. It is shaped more like a bottle, and appears somewhat irregular in shape, as the cutter of the enormous emerald crystal was perhaps instructed by the king to reduce losses in cutting to a minimum. The unguentarium had a lid and feet also made of emerald, probably worked from the material scooped out of the vessel.
The vessel is one of the key objects of the exhibition because of its color. Anderson and Malouf were interested neither in the provenance or rarity of a piece, nor whether it was the best example of its school or style. Rather, they grouped about 450 objects by color, material and size, in a way that reflected many of the director's cinematic tricks.
P.S. You can read more about this outstanding exhibition here.