Orientations

Following the ascension of Maria Theresa to the throne of Austria, the new Archduchess began looking for ways to express her legitimacy and authority through architecture. In order to accomplish this, Maria Theresa turned towards the generalised and imagined Orient and Far East, where she could appropriate motifs for her own propagandist purpose. These exotic decorative schemes are bolstered when combined with the eighteenth century’s interest in all things which originated from the Orient, which was coupled with the development of chinoiserie by Europeans. Chinoiserie is variously defined as ‘the European idea of what oriental things were like or ought to be like’, ‘Chinese products that were manufactured in China, but which were intended for exportation’, and ‘objects imported from China, objects made in Europe, and objects assembled from Chinese and European elements.’[1]

Thus, through the combined analysis of phantasms, orientalism, reality, and femininity, we explore how Maria Theresa and the Habsburgs sought to construct a version of distant lands through the use of chinoiserie and artefacts from distant courts, which were implemented by the Archduchess to extol her various attributes as required by the societal norms of the eighteenth-century.

Fantasies & Phantasms

For Maria Theresa and her family, the development of fantastical spaces evoking the Far East at Schloss Schönbrunn was part of a broader trend in eighteenth-century Europe that looked to the non-western world for aesthetic inspiration. This trend saw the development of chinoiserie, a decorative style ‘associated with the imagination and its excesses’, a mantra which suits the rooms examined within this dissertation superbly.[2] All of the rooms decorated with chinoiserie represent an imagined reality of the Far East which came to be understood as the true reality of the countries whose artefacts decorated the walls and ceilings. The extravagant use of porcelain, lacquer, miniatures, prints, and wallpaper serves to reinforce the fantasy of these spaces. Furthermore, by augmenting incomplete sets of eastern artefacts with the inclusion of chinoiserie, these rooms create a fantastical image of the Far East in these spaces, turning fantasy into reality, a form of what Melissa Percival calls ‘the ultimate consumer wish fulfillment’.[3] To understand how the imagined becomes the truth, we explore how the phantasm makes use of the truth for its own reality. The phantasm allows its participants to exist ‘on both sides of the dividing line between two opposed concepts’ - or the idea that Europe can accurately depict the truth of Asia.[4] In order for the phantasm to function, and for the rooms in Schönbrunn to enable the imagination, the viewer must actively engage in a ‘projection on the part of a subject’ which allows them to experience this reality in ‘the way one would wish them to be’, thus creating true and accurate depictions in the eyes of the European visitor.[5] Through the phantasm, the rooms in Schönbrunn become part of the participants’ ability to relate to reality, to truth, to their imagination and fantasies.

Ultimately, inhabitants of these spaces participating in the phantasm and its imagined reality ‘travel imaginatively into a different conceptual space through the act of looking’, a ‘daydream of the Orient’ created through the desire to construct their own perceptions of the Far East.[6]

Crafting Reality

Crafting a version of reality through architecture was an integral aspect of ruling in eighteenth-century Europe. As Alastair Laing and Anthony Blunt point out, rulers needed architects who could design and execute complex suites of apartments, ceremonial staircases, and great halls and who could ensure the craftsmen they employed executed these spaces to the highest detail.[7] This trend towards extravagant interiors, coupled with the growing fashion for imported goods from the Far East and chinoiserie, saw the logical conjoining of the two into rooms decorated with chinoiserie. We can therefore see these rooms not only as a part of stylish trend, but as the house of Habsburg claiming the Orient, the Far East, the exotic, for its public image as both a cultured European dynasty and as a dominant power on the continent. Through these rooms, which the Habsburgs played an instrumental role in the execution of, Austria demonstrates an authoritative knowledge over China, India, and Japan, which, as Said discusses, enables the Habsburgs to ‘dominate’ and ‘have authority over’ the Far East through a curated simulation.[8] This curation directly relates to another key tenet of Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism, where Europeans use the Orient to provoke their vision, rather than be guided by the reality of the locations they drew inspiration from.[9]  Key to the success of this was the Habsburgs ability to simultaneously liken themselves to – and distance themselves from – the Far Eastern Imperial Courts these artefacts were created or inspired by.

Quintessentially, through the acts of copying, collaging, and curation, these spaces have reorganised the Far East and its nations, religions, and artefacts for the use and success of the Imperial Family. In these processes, the Habsburgs have disassembled the realities of the Far East and reassembled them for the purposes of control, civilization, and stability in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

Feminine Reverie

While the various rooms in Schloss Schönbrunn were used by the Habsburg family to demonstrate their primacy over the Far East, they could also draw criticism for their contentious relationship to both the feminine and the exotic. Such qualities associated with these spaces were seen as analogous with the ‘frailty linked to female extravagance, unreasonableness and irrationality’ and an artistic style which called for the ‘power of the imagination’ and which did not provide intellectual stimulation.[10] The rooms in Schönbrunn which make use of chinoiserie, and especially porcelain, as a decorative motif, serve as a type of ‘china closet’, a space, which Vanessa Alayrac-Fielding points out, had become a ‘metonymy for woman’, where the inhabitants of these spaces could be entertained by their appearance and, through their imaginative abilities, escape the sensation of ‘idleness, indolence and boredom’.[11] Furthermore, in decorating these rooms with artefacts created and modified by her own family, Maria Theresa conjoins, within Schönbrunn, her Imperial dynastic ambitions and the pride of motherhood all within rooms which created a truth of the Far East through its falseness.[12]

This process is supported by Michael Yonan, who describes means through which Maria Theresa could use ‘widespread conceptions of womanhood’ to ‘support her exceptional monarchical situation’ and demonstrate the ‘famed Habsburg fecundity and the dynasty’s health,’ displaying the continuity of the House of Habsburg during a time of transition through a simulated version of reality that was crafted to suit their desires and needs.[13] Though chinoiserie was associated – negatively – with femininity and the issues which eighteenth-century European men saw in women, Maria Theresa could harness these trends and their associated feminine appeal to bolster her own rule as sovereign. This was done with the association with, and appropriation of, Far Eastern aesthetics to shape how she was perceived by members of her own and foreign courts. Additionally, these rooms further served to provide a pseudo-journey to distant lands, enabling those same visitors to experience an interpreted vision of the Far East for their enjoyment.

Schloss Schönbrunn Oriented

While the Kabinetts, Zimmers, and Salons may not allow every visitor to imagine a fantastical version of China, India, and Japan, they continue to elicit awe and wonder. In the present, rather than imagining a journey to an exotic foreign locale, visitors now imagine themselves on a localised journey to a past filled with grand structures and fanciful creations, where these decorations are standard features of grand palaces. It would seem then, that, just as the historical Orient was unknown to historical Europeans, historical Europe is unknown to contemporary man. Europe’s past, through the imagination, has become its own Orient, with Schönbrunn as its guide.

As these spaces were shaped by the Habsburgs own ideas of what the Far East appeared as, or rather, what they desired the Far East to appear as to those visiting Schönbrunn, we see the Austrian ability to master the Orient, or Far East, through the subjugation of these nations through the use of phantasms. The process allowed Maria Theresa to appropriate the power and importance of foreign women as a means of demonstrating her own legitimacy in a Europe dominated by male sovereigns.[14]

Ultimately, the use of the imagined Far East through the use of phantasms allowed the Habsburgs, to present their own version of the Far East, actively participate in the creation of this reality, and use this imagined reality to demonstrate legitimacy, all while still existing within the expectations and restrictions placed upon them by society at large. Maria Theresa used designs, motifs, and materials from the Far East throughout Schönbrunn to establish herself as rightful Archduchess and demonstrate the continuity and strength of the Habsburg line. We can thus see these rooms for what they truly are – appropriations of Eastern motifs and materials which have been deployed as propaganda for the bolstering of the prestige and power of the House of Habsburg and the legitimacy and security of Maria Theresa’s sovereignty.