Plaque, oval gilt bronze in relief, with a portrait of Albrecht II (reigned as Emperor 1438-39), South German or Austrian, ca. 1650-1675

Oval plaque of gilt bronze with a relief portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Albrecht II, his face turned 3/4 towards his right. The silver laurel wreath round his head almost entirely missing (one silver leaf remaining to the right of his head), as are the cross surmounting the orb he holds in his left hand, and the entire sceptre he would have held in his right. The plaque with the portrait is cast in a high copper alloy, and is held by four pins into a separately cast frame of a laurel wreath with myrtle branches wound around it. The frame is pierced at the top, bottom and sides with four holes which would have secured it to a piece of furniture or a casket.

Bought from David Peel & Co. Ltd. For £7,500 (all nine plaques), in 1977.

Historical significance: Depictions of series of historical figures are frequent in sixteenth and seventeenth century printed and painted sources. This plaque, and the eight others which form part of the same series, is a rare example of a set of mid-seventeenth-century relief portrait series that survives in a nearly-complete state. The portraits show the members of the powerful Habsburg dynasty who were crowned King of Germany and elected Holy Roman Emperor (a title revived in 800 CE by Emperor Charlemagne: see Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. IX, 'Emperor'. In 1512, during the reign of Maximilian I, the imperial title was restyled as 'Holy Roman Emperor': see Mölich: 2010, p.173). The emperor officially received his title after coronation by the Pope, and he was expected to defend and extend the Christian world. As a sign of the dual spiritual and military role, all the emperors depicted in this series of plaques wear armour beneath a rich cloak which represents their religious and political importance. The portraits, almost certainly based on published engravings, are are broadly generic, although some of the emperors are distinguished by particular physical features or by aspects of their apparel. The representation of Charles V reproduces his peculiarly exaggerated jaw, a feature depicted in earlier portraits of him (see Checa Cremades 1999). The Emperors Maximilian I, Charles V, Ferdinand I, Rudolph II and Ferdinand III all wear around their necks the chain and pendant which symbolises their election to the knightly Order of the Golden Fleece. (The Order of the Golden Fleece, or 'la Toison d'Or' in the original French, was founded in 1429-30 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to honour his new wife Isabella of Portugal. The politics of dynastic marriage meant control of the Order, whose knights were limited to 24, passed to the Habsburg family in 1477. See Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. XV, 'Knighthood'.)

Pin-holes in the frame of all the plaques in this series of nine suggest they were made to be applied to a wooden surface, probably that of a cabinet or, perhaps, of a large casket. Roman numerals scratched into the back of the plaques themselves indicate they were to be displayed in chronological order according to the reign of each emperor. Series of portraits of illustrious men and historical figures had become fashionable as decorative schemes for studies and libraries in sixteenth-century Italy. Such series were inspired by Classical models, and continued to be popular in the seventeenth century (for examples of such schemes, see Bullard 1994; Dorival 1970). Plaques with cast or engraved scenes or portraits were applied to furniture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (see for example V&A W.36-1981 and V&A W.24-1977 [and compare with a seventeenth-century Dutch cabinet sold at Christie's London, 30 November 1972, lot 94]).

This plaque is one of nine survivors from an original set of thirteen depicting members of the Habsburg family who had been elected Emperor. This title consciously recalled the imperial power of the rulers of Ancient Rome, and the Emperor, elected by German princes, was expected to act as the secular equivalent of the Pope and defend the Catholic religion. In 1512 this religious aspect was reinforced when the imperial title was modified to 'Holy Roman Emperor'. This alteration may have been prompted by concerns about the emergence of the Protestant challenge to the Catholic religion. From 1438, when Albert II was elected Emperor, the title was virtually hereditary in the Habsburg dynasty. This set of portraits was probably made for someone with strong sympathies for the Habsburg dynasty. The numbering of the images shows the series would have included a portrait (now lost) of Emperor Frederick III, who had usurped the imperial throne in 1314. Holes in the frame of the plaques suggest they were attached to furnishings, such as a cabinet. Series of historical or illustrious figures were a fashionable decorative device in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Such sequences reminded the viewer of the lessons that could be learned from the study of the past.

A.13-1977