Book of Prayers
1702
Medium/TechniqueSilver, tortoiseshell
DimensionsL. 4 1/2 in.
Credit LineGift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild
Accession number2013.1753
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDecorative arts
Collections
Provenance1702, Madame de Sohlern (née Cracempack), France [see note 1]. Nathaniel von Rothschild (b. 1836 - d. 1905), Vienna [see note 2]; by descent to his nephew, Alphonse de Rothschild (b. 1878 – d. 1942) and Clarice de Rothschild (b. 1894 – d. 1967), Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild by Nazi forces (no. AR 3191) [see note 3]; taken to the Kunsthistorisches Museum and stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna; August 29, 1941, given over to the Federal Monuments Office, Vienna and later removed to the monastery of Kremsmünster and subsequently to Alt Aussee; 1945, recovered by Allied forces; about 1947/1950, returned to Clarice de Rothschild, New York [see note 4]; by descent to her daughter, Bettina Looram de Rothschild (b. 1924 - d. 2012); about 1990/1992, given by Bettina Looram de Rothschild to members of her family; 2013, gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 18, 2013)
NOTES:
[1] The book is inscribed: "Livres des Prières, appartenant à Madame de Sohlern née de Cracempack. Escrit l'an. 1702."
[2] Inventar über die in den Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild'schen Nachlass gehörigen, in dem Palais in Wien, IV. Bezirk, Theresianumgasse Nr. 14 befindlichen Kunstgegenstände und Einrichtungsstücke (Vienna, 1906), p. 189, no. 928, as "1 kleiner Bucheinband aus Schildpatt mit Silberbeschläger, ein Manuscript mit Gebeten enthaltend; in das Schildpatt geschnitten die Portraits von Anna von Oesterreich und der jugendlichen Louis XIV, sowie Beider Initialen, franz., 1. Hälfte des 17 Jahrh."
[3] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This book appears in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as no. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 3191: "Handgeschriebenes Gebetbuch in Schildplattdeckel, französisch, Ende 17. Jhdt." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1102.
[4] This item was catalogued at the Central Depot, and given over to the Federal Monuments Office in 1941. Card no. AR 3191, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. It was probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter.
NOTES:
[1] The book is inscribed: "Livres des Prières, appartenant à Madame de Sohlern née de Cracempack. Escrit l'an. 1702."
[2] Inventar über die in den Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild'schen Nachlass gehörigen, in dem Palais in Wien, IV. Bezirk, Theresianumgasse Nr. 14 befindlichen Kunstgegenstände und Einrichtungsstücke (Vienna, 1906), p. 189, no. 928, as "1 kleiner Bucheinband aus Schildpatt mit Silberbeschläger, ein Manuscript mit Gebeten enthaltend; in das Schildpatt geschnitten die Portraits von Anna von Oesterreich und der jugendlichen Louis XIV, sowie Beider Initialen, franz., 1. Hälfte des 17 Jahrh."
[3] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This book appears in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as no. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 3191: "Handgeschriebenes Gebetbuch in Schildplattdeckel, französisch, Ende 17. Jhdt." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1102.
[4] This item was catalogued at the Central Depot, and given over to the Federal Monuments Office in 1941. Card no. AR 3191, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. It was probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter.
about 1770
about 1700
second half of the 16th century
19th century
17th century
early 18th century
early 18th century
