Turkish Chamber in Dresden

mahratt · 2nd February 2016, 12:30 PM

Great items!

Thank you Tatyana!

CharlesS · 2nd February 2016, 01:21 PM

Not only are these rare and gorgeous items, but they appear meticulously cared for, and not hanged and forgotten like some museums.

Thanks for sharing!

Tatyana Dianova · 3rd February 2016, 07:35 AM

The majority of the items was published in the two Turkish Chamber catalogues. The larger of them (in German only) has the full Ottoman core collection with very good descriptions. It features all the items from the main displays. These are Ottoman and Eastern Europe items till 18th century.
There are also two small displays which show later 19th century items. These items are not published, and the content of one of these displays was changed once in the last couple of years.
Alas, there are no more detailed descriptions to the items in museum - the focus is on audio devices given to the one day tourists :-)
The Saxonian electors and kings were adding items to their collection up till the beginning of 20th century, and there are definitely many great later items in the collection which are unshown. For example, I know that alone the quantity of Keris in Dresden is around 10,000 ! No one of them is shown at the moment, and I know from Alan Maisey who has seen them, that their condition is really pitiful, although they are kept in a very modern store... Also many early oriental blades on display show deep pitting and were obviously cleaned from rust chemically...

ariel · 3rd February 2016, 10:16 AM

I have the "big" one, but was unaware of the rest.

What a pity about the "not shown" ones.....

Are private collectors the only owners who oil their treasures?

Ian · 3rd February 2016, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ariel

... Are private collectors the only owners who oil their treasures?

Probably the main ones who do so regularly and with attention to detail. I'm sure there are some professional conservators with museums who do a great job, but their time must be spread out trying to care for an enormous number of individual pieces, meaning that any one piece probably does not get the full attention it deserves.

Ian

Tatyana Dianova · 4th February 2016, 07:22 AM

Ian is right. Alan has told me also that at the storing rooms in Dresden where Keris and other ethnographic weapons are kept (there are tens thousands of items!) only ONE restorer is working. And only this person dare to make something with blades - oiling (or waxing?) included! There are a lot of volunteers, mainly students, but they dare not to touch baldes beause they are not qualified to do it, and they can help only with paperwork...

Jens Nordlunde · 6th February 2016, 04:35 PM

Thank you very much Tatyana for showing these items :-).

The museum exhibitions are often very nice, but mostly the museums keep the visitors away from the reserves, saying that they dont have staff enough - which in most cases is the truth due to budget cuttings.

Many years ago I was in Wienna and saw the National museum. The exhibition was fantastic, newly made, and you could see the weapons from all sides. However, when I saw the reserves I was chocked, seing all the weapons laying there unattended - they did not have the staff to take care of them.

This also goes for libraries where old books, palm blade manuscripts and other valuable things have little chance to 'survive'.

If they in Dresden have one conservator, he should use half his time to train the students how to do the job, so in a relatively short time they would be able to help him - at least with the most common work, so he would have time to do the job he was trained for. Maybe even call for collectors, who knew what it was all about.

2nd February 2016, 12:30 PM	#1
mahratt Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Russia Posts: 1,042	Great items! Thank you Tatyana!

2nd February 2016, 01:21 PM	#2
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,854	Not only are these rare and gorgeous items, but they appear meticulously cared for, and not hanged and forgotten like some museums. Thanks for sharing!

3rd February 2016, 07:35 AM	#3
Tatyana Dianova Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 734	The majority of the items was published in the two Turkish Chamber catalogues. The larger of them (in German only) has the full Ottoman core collection with very good descriptions. It features all the items from the main displays. These are Ottoman and Eastern Europe items till 18th century. There are also two small displays which show later 19th century items. These items are not published, and the content of one of these displays was changed once in the last couple of years. Alas, there are no more detailed descriptions to the items in museum - the focus is on audio devices given to the one day tourists :-) The Saxonian electors and kings were adding items to their collection up till the beginning of 20th century, and there are definitely many great later items in the collection which are unshown. For example, I know that alone the quantity of Keris in Dresden is around 10,000 ! No one of them is shown at the moment, and I know from Alan Maisey who has seen them, that their condition is really pitiful, although they are kept in a very modern store... Also many early oriental blades on display show deep pitting and were obviously cleaned from rust chemically...

3rd February 2016, 10:16 AM	#4
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I have the "big" one, but was unaware of the rest. What a pity about the "not shown" ones..... Are private collectors the only owners who oil their treasures?

4th February 2016, 07:22 AM	#6
Tatyana Dianova Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 734	Ian is right. Alan has told me also that at the storing rooms in Dresden where Keris and other ethnographic weapons are kept (there are tens thousands of items!) only ONE restorer is working. And only this person dare to make something with blades - oiling (or waxing?) included! There are a lot of volunteers, mainly students, but they dare not to touch baldes beause they are not qualified to do it, and they can help only with paperwork...

6th February 2016, 04:35 PM	#7
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Thank you very much Tatyana for showing these items :-). The museum exhibitions are often very nice, but mostly the museums keep the visitors away from the reserves, saying that they dont have staff enough - which in most cases is the truth due to budget cuttings. Many years ago I was in Wienna and saw the National museum. The exhibition was fantastic, newly made, and you could see the weapons from all sides. However, when I saw the reserves I was chocked, seing all the weapons laying there unattended - they did not have the staff to take care of them. This also goes for libraries where old books, palm blade manuscripts and other valuable things have little chance to 'survive'. If they in Dresden have one conservator, he should use half his time to train the students how to do the job, so in a relatively short time they would be able to help him - at least with the most common work, so he would have time to do the job he was trained for. Maybe even call for collectors, who knew what it was all about.