The Uppsala Kunstschrank as Material Messenger of Diplomacy

This paper examines the Uppsala Kunstschrank, a collector’s cabinet presented to King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden in 1632, as a diplomatic device that mediated political power through its form, materials, and contents. I first situate the cabinet within the political context of Augsburg’s capitulation to the Swedish army during the Thirty Years’ War, and then interpret it through the lens of art, diplomacy, and ecocriticism. I argue that Uppsala Kunstschrank functioned as compendia of artisanal labor and exotic materials that symbolized civic and princely assets. As an active assemblage the Uppsala Kunstschrank combines exotic woods, stones, architectural form, allegorical iconography, and encyclopedic collections of naturalia and artificialia to project Augsburg’s wealth, industry, and global connections. Through comparison with other Kunstschränke produced by Philipp Hainhofer, inventories, and the theoretical frameworks of Samuel Quiccheberg and Francis Bacon, this study demonstrates that the Uppsala Kunstschrank enacted a rhetoric of sovereignty and possession, and reinforced Gustavus Adolphus’s political authority. Ultimately, I show that the cabinet’s sensory appeal, intricate mechanisms, and material richness exemplify material culture as an agent of diplomacy in early modern Europe.