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Turcica in North and Central European Libraries and Kunstkammers
Abstract This paper aims to explore the collection and recognition of Ottoman objects together with those created by European artists and writers describing and depicting the Ottoman Turk within sixteenth-century collections, particularly in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire. Specifically, it investigates the inclusion of these books and prints, as compared to decorative arts, costume and weaponry within the traditions and structures of early collections, especially libraries and associated Kunstkammers. Within this frame, the Hapsburg collections in Vienna, Innsbruck, and Prague are directly compared with Kunstkammer and library collections in Dresden, Munich, Wolfenbüttel and Copenhagen. The focus is on whether these were collected to provide military intelligence in defence against the Ottoman armies and the Sultan, knowledge about an enemy culture, and theological background to the infidel Muslims? Or were they also objects of curiosity about a far-away society within an expanding world view, as early ideas of the ‘Oriental’ and ‘Orientalism’ were being established?
