MPRG Art and Knowledge in Pre–Modern Europe
Subterranean Economies: Material Culture of
the Mines in Early Modern Europe
Tina Asmussen
P O S T D O C T O R A L F E L L OW, M P I WG
During the early modern period, mining was one of
the most important driving forces behind develop-
ments of the economy in Europe. The metallurgical
processes and connected refining operations for the
subsequent use of metals changed not only the eco-
nomic landscape, but also affected the perception, val-
idation and manipulation of ores in manifold ways. To
a great extent, the enormous wealth of the Electors of
Saxony, the Dukes of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, as
well as the Habsburg Emperors, came from the extrac-
tion of mineral resources and from activities associated
with chemical and metallurgical undertakings. Such
Andreas Ryff, Münz- und Mineralienbuch, 1594. Autograph in possession of the Basel University
Library (A lambda II 46a).
activities included smelting, metal-working, dyeing,
glass-making and minting. Several cities in these min-
ing regions such as Freiberg and Annaberg in Saxony
or St Joachimsthal (Jáchymov) in Bohemia reached im-
pressive dimensions and became not only important
places of economic fertility, but also centers of scien-
tific innovation and artistic production, virtuosity and
display.
Proceeding from recent studies in material culture and
the circulation of objects and knowledge, this project
focuses on interactions of human actors with metallic
materials in central European mining regions in the
period between 1490 and 1630. The economic and tech-
nological developments in mining had large effects on
material culture, perceptions, and validations of me-
tallic ores. Ensuing from the conflated notion of gold
tasmussen@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Asmussen_Poster_9_LK_END.indd 1
and silver, both as symbols of value and as generators
of it, this project investigates the perceptions and trans-
formations of value con-
nected to different medial
and material conditions
of metallic ores. This ana-
lytical focus on percep-
tions and transformations
of value combines eco-
nomic considerations
with an attention towards Lazarus Ercker, Beschreibung Allerfürnemisten
Mineralischen Erzt unnd Bergwercksarten, p.69,
metallurgical practices Frankfurt a. M., 1580.
and techniques such as
smelting, assaying, alloying or even transmuting min-
erals and metals. Geographically the analysis is directed
towards the duchies of Saxony, Braunschweig and the
territories of Further Austria. Of major interest for this
project are the interdependences of actors, objects and
specific “sites” of mining, metallurgical processes and
mineral display (alchemical laboratories, goldsmith
workshops, mints or mineral collections and curiosity
cabinets). With the methodological background based
on a renewed interest in the history of science and com-
merce and the global development of science as well as
the transmission and movement of knowledge and ob-
jects, this investigation of material and epistemic cul-
tures of the mines offers a timely contribution to a con-
nected history of economy, art and science.
Glückslöser of 1 1/4 Talers value. Commissioned by Friedrich Ulrich of Braunschweig-
Wolfenbüttel. 34,68 g silver, 48 mm, Niedersächsisches Münzkabinett der Deutschen Bank
Hannover (Inv. -Nr. 01.124.06).
www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
20.10.15 15:22