Crown the Kunstkammer!

The Kunstkammer in the current exhibition Bartholomeus Spranger: Splendor and Eroticism in Imperial Prague

«A Kunstkammer, or chamber of wonders, was the ancestor of today's public museum. We have royalty to thank for its inception; rulers such as Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Prague (1552–1612) spent a great deal of time and money collecting precious objects for enjoyment and study in their palaces, and they kept these objects in rooms designed specifically to hold them. The exhibition Bartholomeus Spranger: Splendor and Eroticism in Imperial Prague (on view through February 1, 2015) features a miniature Kunstkammer that offers the flavor and spirit of Rudolf's collection and arrangement, but you may have noticed that we left a few open spaces.»

What would you put in one of our Kunstkammer's empty spaces? We invite you to choose an object from the Metropolitan's collection to crown our Kunstkammer and share your selection in the comments below.

Here are a few guidelines to help you get started:

• Search our online collection to find an object that strikes your fancy and looks like it would fit in one of the two empty spaces in our Kunstkammer, pictured above. Keep in mind the spirit and aesthetic of the piece, ideally picking objects that would enhance the overall arrangement.
• Let us know what you've picked by leaving a comment at the end of this blog post.
• In your comment, please provide a link to your chosen object and tell us in a few sentences why your object is Kunstkammer-worthy!

I'll be paying close attention to your responses and will share a few of my favorites in a future post.

Good luck, and buona fortuna!

Helpful Links
Online Collection
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: "Collecting for the Kunstkammer"
Bartholomeus Spranger: Splendor and Eroticism in Imperial Prague (on view through February 1, 2015)