This volume presents a study of the thirty-four portraits in panel E 'Orient' in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. In this multi-faced object potentates from south-eastern Europe and Ottoman, Persian and African empires are represented. The small oil paintings are copies from the sixteenth century, part of Archduke Ferdinand's collection of almost a thousand postcard-sized images, and are presented in the museum's Münzkabinett.

The portraits are explored in a participative research: Interlocutors in Vienna from different backgrounds share their reactions, impressions and questions in interviews. The appearances, production, collecting and presentation of the pictures are discussed, and the results of visits to Innsbruck, Como, Istanbul and Florence regarding the history of the portraits complete the work.

While some mysteries remain unsolved, the research shows how people in contemporary Vienna interact with sixteenth-century portraits of an 'Orient'.



Danila Mayer, a social and cultural anthropologist, studies globalisation processes. She has published and lectured on transnational migration, urban youth, the Istanbul Biennial of Contemporary Art, opera, and method in social science, and worked as a guest curator and staff member at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.



SOME PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS

Thomas Fillitz



INTRODUCTION

Description of Tafel E

The Research

Participative Study and Expert Interlocutors

The Non-European Other: Orientalism and Exoticism

Overview



THE INTERVIEWS:

WHAT DO YOU SEE, WHAT DO YOU FEEL,

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Sibel: Magic, Biographies, and My Own History

Eleonore: A Simple Black and White List Please

Muso: The Tafel is a Mystery to Be Solved

Ensieh: I Only Saw Gold and Power

Maziar: Obsession, Physiognomy, Archive

Ivan: Who Remains from History?

Thomas: Who Painted That and How … In Africa?

Renée: Just Faces Passing By Without Names

Gabriele: Between "Too Little" and "Too Much"

Carola: Food for Phantasies and Memories

Heidemarie: How Did They Get Here? …

Everything Will Come Back Together

Cos: Coins, the Ottoman Past, and Snapping Information

Agnes and Amie: African Empires? We Want to Know More about Them



INTERVIEW RESULTS:

RESPONSES, FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS

Family, Gender, Physiognomy

Own Biography, Migration and Travel

Further Interest, Research and Reflections on History

Regions, "Afrikanische Reiche" and the "Orient"

Presentation and Descriptions

Style, Format, Inscriptions

Appearances: Complexions, Clothing, Headdresses, Beards, Jewellery, Insignia

Figures Especially Noticed

Context: Portraits Collection

Context: Münzkabinett

Context: The Museum as a World of Its Own

Interest in Further Visits and the Study at Hand



A CLOSER LOOK AT TAFEL E

The Portraits' Descriptions

Summing up the Portraits' Descriptions

Portrait Groups in Tafel E: Ottomans, the Women, African Rulers



PRODUCTION:

WHO PAINTED THE PORTRAITS, AND WHERE?

TRAVELLING PAINTERS, TRAVELLING IMAGES



COLLECTING AND COLLECTORS:

HOW DID THE PORTRAITS COME TOGETHER?

Archduke Ferdinand II von Tirol (1529–1595)

Paolo Giovio (1483–1552)

Travels to Copies



ASSEMBLING TAFEL E:

HISTORY AND PRESENTATION

The Tafel E as Object

The History of Tafel E

Listings of Tafel E Portraits

Presentation in the KHM

Other 'Oriental' Objects in Vienna



CONCLUSION



APPENDIX

Manual

Lists of Interlocutors' Responses, Feedback and Questions



LITERATURE