![The Production of Porcelain [Die Porzellanerzeugung]](/jart/prj3/mak-resp/images/cache/0845326e82ca9e18c1d29152b94e4fe4/0xC26959B534EFB25C88A7CEA8D0D77DB0.jpeg)
PORCELAIN ROOM FROM DUBSKY PALACE IN BRNO
Vienna, ca. 1740
Ke 6201/1912
Around 1700, it became fashionable in Europe to decorate rooms as so-called “Porcelain Cabinets.” First only European faience was available, but with time it was replaced with Chinese imports and, from 1700, with Japanese porcelain. The Porcelain Cabinet chamber from Dubsky Palace in Brno, Czech Republic, was one of the first rooms to be decorated with European porcelain.From the coat of arms of the Czobor von Szent-Mihály family over the trumeau mirror, the decoration of the room can be traced back to the years after 1724. At this period, Duchess Maria Antonia of Czobor, Frau auf Göding, born Princess of Liechtenstein, purchased in Brno what was later to become the Dubsky Palace. The porcelain from the Vienna manufactory Du Paquier (1718-44) also dates from this period.
Studies of the room's fixed wall paneling, and the fact that—even in Brno—the fireplace had no smoke outlet and therefore could not be used, show that the decoration must have been originally designed for a different location, still unknown, and was only later adapted to the smaller dimensions of the Brno palace. However, there is a discrepancy in time that has still not been clarified between the examples of early Viennese porcelain, produced prior to 1730, and the ornamentation of the wall paneling and some of the furniture, the earliest dating for which can only be to the 1740s.
In 1745, the palace came into the possession of Johann Georg von Piati, whose son Emanuel Piati von Tirnowitz inherited it in 1762. The family's coat of arms was formerly painted over that of the Czobor, and was only removed in 1912 when the room was purchased by the Museum. The addition of paintings, and of a wall-clock signed by the Brno master clockmaker Sebastian Kurz, also dates from the Piati period, around 1790.
The palace received its current name when Emanuela von Piati, the daughter of Johann Georg, married Franz Dubsky von Trebomyslic in 1805. Later additions of porcelain from the Herend Porcelain Factory (founded in 1839), and items from the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory dated 1847, show that extensive restoration and re-adaptation of the room must have been carried out around 1850. The chairs, as well as the console table on the long wall and the sofa table, also very probably date from this period.
I was doubtful about the idea of artists making installations of earlier objects; I am still doubtful. I think installation should be the responsibility of the curators of the objects, although I continue to be critical of the generally artificial way in which objects are installed. To have artists make such installations is likely to perpetuate devious installation. I accepted the problem as a favour to the museum, and I accepted as a premise for myself that I would not contradict the judgement of the curator responsible, Christian Witt-Dörring. I think we did our best. The museum's premise, the installation's set fact, was that the Dubsky room, originally a room in a palace, had to be reconstructed in a much larger room of the museum. I was told there was no alternative. The room could be remade either in one of the corners of the exhibition room, leaving an awkward right angle for the other furniture, or it could be remade in the center of the room, leaving a symmetrical space and possibly establishing a room within a room - a good idea. I asked that this be done. The Dubsky room is too large and is awkward, but placing it in the center was the right decision. The room and most of the other furniture were made in the eighteenth century for the aristocracy. The room's grandeur is uncertain, and therefore excessive. It is uneasy; Chardin is not uneasy. All architecture and most installations are now uneasy. Why is Chardin simple, strong and easy? The separate pieces of furniture are placed symmetrically, usually in pairs, usually opposite each other. A rectangular space usually determines this. The positioning of the furniture was also carefully decided with regard to the size, color, and type of each piece. I asked for part of the moulding under the ceiling of the large room to be repeated around the exterior of the Dubsky room, to further incorporate it into the eighteenth century space made in the nineteenth century, and to reduce the excessive generality of its exterior. This is a small, uneasy room uneasily placed in a large, doubly uneasy room. I think it should be in the basement. But Witt-Dörring and I did our best, uneasily./ Donald Judd
The MAK's collections contain some splendid examples of eighteenth-century cabinet-making. The emphasis in the collection is on pieces from the cultural realm encompassing Austria, France, and Germany. These bear witness to the tremendous typological, technical, and formal developments that took place during the course of the eighteenth century. The bureau cabinet, with its origins in the seventeenth century, is gradually replaced as a prestigious furniture item by the writing desk, the southern German form of which is known as a "tabernacle cabinet.” In France, the chest of drawers develops as a new kind of case furniture providing storage space in the living area, a reaction to the growth of the private sphere and the increasing desire for comfort. Forms of writing furniture that arise include the basic desk and the cylinder desk. The surface decoration of furniture becomes more varied, and is used to meet novel requirements and fashions (wooden and Boulle marquetry, lacquer, porcelain, etc.). Interior design itself becomes more uniform with the development of mobile and immobile furnishings. Furniture enters into decorative unity, and often structural unity, with the room. The porcelain room from the Dubsky Palace in Brno eloquently documents this, as well as marking the beginning of porcelain production in Vienna, from 1719 onward. / Christian Witt-Dörring - curator of the MAK Furniture and Woodwork Collection during the phase of the reinstallation of the MAK Permanent Collection in the early 1990s)
The MAK's collections contain some splendid examples of eighteenth-century cabinet-making. The emphasis in the collection is on pieces from the cultural realm encompassing Austria, France, and Germany. These bear witness to the tremendous typological, technical, and formal developments that took place during the course of the eighteenth century. The bureau cabinet, with its origins in the seventeenth century, is gradually replaced as a prestigious furniture item by the writing desk, the southern German form of which is known as a "tabernacle cabinet.” In France, the chest of drawers develops as a new kind of case furniture providing storage space in the living area, a reaction to the growth of the private sphere and the increasing desire for comfort. Forms of writing furniture that arise include the basic desk and the cylinder desk. The surface decoration of furniture becomes more varied, and is used to meet novel requirements and fashions (wooden and Boulle marquetry, lacquer, porcelain, etc.). Interior design itself becomes more uniform with the development of mobile and immobile furnishings. Furniture enters into decorative unity, and often structural unity, with the room. The porcelain room from the Dubsky Palace in Brno eloquently documents this, as well as marking the beginning of porcelain production in Vienna, from 1719 onward. / Christian Witt-Dörring - curator of the MAK Furniture and Woodwork Collection during the phase of the reinstallation of the MAK Permanent Collection in the early 1990s)
Biography
DONALD JUDDBorn 1928 in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Died 1994 in New York.
The painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, art critic, and philosopher Donald Judd was one of the most important representatives of Minimal Art. Like no other, he redefined the relation between art and space.
In 1971, Judd moved to Marfa, Texas where he established the Chinati Foundation which was opened to the public in 1986. Works of Judd and of his contemporaries are on permanent display here. The Chinati Foundation exemplifies one of Judd’s greatest concerns: the appropriate presentation of artworks. This has gradually led to a change of thought in museums in favor of a more unified and coherent display of artworks.
Guided tours
Special guided tours by advance booking: Gabriele Fabiankowitsch, Head, MAK Educational ProgramsT +43 1 711 36-298,