Elfriede Iby | Schönbrunn Palace
A new interior in memoriam – the so-called Millions Room of Schönbrunn Palace
Summary The so-called Millions Room with its sixty collages of Indo-Persian miniatures set into richly gilded rocaille cartouches in the wall paneling is one of the most extravagant and sumptuous interiors of Schönbrunn Palace. The paneling is made of an exotic palisander wood which was historically known as Feketin or Vicatin – hence named Feketin Room since the time of Maria Theresa. It was only after the end of the Monarchy that it was listed as the Millions Room in guides to the palace.
As the Millions Room is stylistically very different compared to the surrounding rooms, which were executed at the same time (around 1767 to 1772), like the Vieux-Laque-Room and the Porcelain Room, the carrying out of this interior at the same time has to be questioned as its style corresponds convincingly to the elaborated Rococo style around 1750/55. Due to diverse research, going back to those of Christian Witt-Döring (Witt-Döring 1978, 98–99), the interior can quite probably be located as the originally one of the Upper Belvedere Palace, which Maria Theresa bought in 1752 and in which she commissioned several new interior designs.
In 1766, one year after the death of her beloved husband Emperor Franz Stephan, modifications in her Mirrow Room, the precedent interior, are recorded (Iby 2023, 209–212). These modifications must refer to the installation of the one year later mentioned Vicatin Room with its paneling and the Indo-Persian miniatures-collages as well as the ceiling pictures inspired by the original Moghul pictures, called “Moghuleries” by Ebba Koch (Koch 2004), substituting the former Mirrow Room.
It is well known that Maria Theresa had a predilection towards exotic arts, which she summarized as “Indian”; it is also recorded that the children were highly skilled in arts, even the Emperor himself was very gifted. It can be assumed that the collages, executed in the 1750th, are art works of her family, like the pictures in the Porcelain Room and the Miniatures Cabinet of the imperial art production until the late 1760th, next door to the Millions Room.
Being widow Maria Theresa reflected the happy time with her family and commissioned therefore several new interior designs in memoriam, as the family art works were an appropriate medium to remember, one of these being the Millions Room (Iby 2023, 245–251).
Bibliography
Iby, E. (2023). ‚Das ehemalige Vicatinkabinett, heute Millionenzimmer‘. In: Mader-Kratky, A., Schönbrunn, die kaiserliche Sommerresidenz, Wien.
Iby, E. (2023). ‚Exotisches Hofleben im Millionenzimmer‘. In: Mader-Kratky, A., Schönbrunn, die kaiserliche Sommerresidenz. Wien.
Koch, E. (2004). ‘The “Moghuleries” of the Millionenzimmer, Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna’. In: Crill, R., Stronge, S., Tobsfield, A. (eds.). Arts of Mughal India. Studies in Honor of Robert Skelton. Ahmadabad.
Witt-Döring, Ch. (1978). Die Möbelkunst am Wiener Hof zur Zeit Maria Theresias (1740–1780). Diss. Phil. Wien.