Embracing Imperfection: Failures and Broken Objects in Early Modern Kunstkammer (1530–1650)

Agnieszka Dziki, M.A.

This project aims to analyze various forms of preservation (storage furniture and cases) and transformation (framing, conservation, recycling) of technical failures and broken objects. The research will focus on two groups: originally unsuccessful attempts in bronze casting along with woodcut/engraving printing, and secondarily broken artificalia/naturalia. The main premise is to study the dynamics of their coexistence in the space of a collection, the modes of reception by the urban (mainly Nurembergian) and princely audience, and potential links with ideas developing in parallel in Italy (non-finito and rotto). Damaged (perforated, rough, defragmented, blurred) surfaces of faulty images and broken objects guaranteed an insight into the processes. Therefore, collecting imperfect products by non-professionals served as a model of knowledge transmission related to the viewership of unfinished objects, workshop tools, and artisanal handbooks. Artisanal failures and damaged objects were placed in different contexts and either preserved or supplemented according to the needs and interests of the collectors.

The research plan includes four work packages:

1. Faulty bronzes of Hans Leinberger
2. Faulty prints taken from matrixes which slipped during the printing process
3.  Preservation of broken objects in the space of a Kunstkammer
4. Restoration of broken objects