24 this object is located in the Juwelenzimmer, on the table where the coffee service otherwise stood.) On a narrative level, the iconography from which the treasury artwork draws is quite specific (fig. 2). The central theme in this flood of images is the myth of Osiris. The depiction in the middle of the base shows Osiris, the Egyptian god of fertility and ruler of the underworld, lying on a bier. The engraved image is flanked by depictions of two priests making offerings to Osiris. The deep niche above the base, which is framed by a hieroglyphic inscription engraved on gilt panels, is devoted to the Apis bull – the earthly incarnation of the god Osiris – crossing the Nile on a barque. The sculptural figures are remarkable, especially the two crocodiles that are studded with countless diamonds and symbolise the banks of the Nile. The large-format agate cameo, probably carved by Christoph Hübner, represents Osiris, the father of the gods – here portrayed with the head of a dog – being worshipped after his death by his wife Isis and other gods of the Egyptian pantheon. Finally, the rounded enamel painting above this depicts the transfigured realm of the divine couple Isis and Osiris, along with their son, Horus. Further small sculptures of deities are found on the entablature at the foot of the 75 cm-high obelisk, which is an exact, small-scale reproduction of the Ancient Egyptian monument that was erected in front of the Lateran in Rome in 1588. A gold-enamelled ibis – the symbol of Thoth, the god of wisdom and profound knowledge – rises up from the tip of the obelisk. The material and graphic sources of the Apis-Altar In a truly unique way, Johann Melchior Dinglinger’s treasury piece incorporates the knowledge that existed in Europe in the early 18th century about the religion and art of Ancient Egypt. But how was this world of ideas and forms, which had been buried for thousands of years and was geographically almost inaccessible, transported from the Nile to the Elbe? On the one hand, it came via Dinglinger’s personal encounter with Ancient Egyptian objects – to which the jeweller had special access at the time when he was working on the Apis-Altar in Dresden. Some Aegyptiaca were already held in the Saxon Electors’ Kunstkammer (art and curiosity cabinet) and also in the Hofapotheke (court pharmacy), but when ancient sculptures from the royal Prussian Kunstkammer in Berlin came into the possession of Augustus the Strong between 1723 and 1726, artefacts from the Pharaonic Period also entered the Dresden Antikensammlung (Antiquities Collection). Above all, however, it was the spectacular acquisition of the estate of Prince Agostino Chigi, comprising 160 sculptures, along with 34 antiquities from the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani, that made Augustus the Strong’s electoral-royal antiquities collection one of the earliest, and at the same time largest, collections of antiquities – and Ancient Egyptian collections – north of the Alps from 1728 onwards, because with the Roman antiquities, numerous examples of the material culture of Pharaonic Egypt came to Dresden (cf. the contribution by Marc Loth in this volume). Baron Raymond Leplat, an architect who worked for many years as Augustus the Strong’s Kunstintendant (artistic advisor), and also served as an intermediary in the acquisition of the Roman antiquities for Dresden, published these newly acquired pieces in 1733 in folio format as Receuil des marbres antiques (...) [Collection of antique marble sculptures (...)]. Nine of the large plates in this publication are devoted to objects Leplat associated with Egypt. It also contains motifs that were employed by Johann Melchior Dinglinger in his Apis-Altar: the Apis bull, shabtis (funerary figurines that appeared very strange to European eyes), various depictions of sphinxes, as well as several pieces that are listed as “Idol Egyptien”, such as the god Thoth manifested as a baboon, Isis with the infant Horus, and a statuette of Osiris.5 It should be noted that the newly acquired Aegyptiaca were not published until 1733, which was two years after the jeweller’s death. In addition, the engravings are accompanied only by very brief and imprecise commentaries; it is therefore unlikely that these actual objects were the source of inspiration for the Apis-Altar with its abundance of Baroque knowledge. Instead, Johann Melchior Dinglinger gained his knowledge about Egyptian culture, art and religion from an 18th-century source whose influence can hardly be overstated. He was probably the first artist to use the images and interpretations contained in L’antiquité expliquée et representée en figures (Antiquity Explained and Illustrated) – a book of engravings published by Bernard de Montfaucon between 1719 and 1724 in 15 large folio volumes – for his own creative purposes. Fig. 2 Johann Melchior Dinglinger (design); Dinglinger and workshop (Goldsmith’s work); Christoph Hübner (stone cutting); Gottlieb Kirchner (sculpture), lower part of Apis-Altar, 1731, Kelheim stone, various gemstones, silver-gilt, enamel, pearls and diamonds, h. 195 cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Grünes Gewölbe, Inv. no. VIII 202
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