The Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria - paintings by Hans Muelich, 1552-55

 

Das Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern. This unique manuscript was commissioned in 1552 by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria as an inventory of the jewelry owned by the duke and his wife, Duchess Anna, a member of the Habsburg dynasty and a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The work contains one hundred and ten paintings in gouache on vellum and paper by the Munich court painter Hans Muelich. The manuscript was kept in the private ducal and electoral "Chamber of Artifacts" for almost three centuries - long after the originals of the jewelry depicted had been lost - and was only presented to the Bavarian State Library by King Ludwig I in 1843.

The jewel book's cover.

The reverse of the above.

I'm fairly certain that this odd looking object is a bouquet holder.

The reverse of the above. The backs of Renaissance jewels were usually highly decorated in enamel. 

The reverse of the above.

The reverse of the above. The enamel work on the backs of jewelry of this period was often as elaborate as the decoration of the obverse.

The reverse of the above.

The reverse of the above.

The reverse of the above.

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Portrait of Duchess Anna of Bavaria, by Jakob Seisenegger, circa 1545.

Anna of Austria (7 July 1528, Prague – 16 October 1590, Munich), member of the Imperial House of Habsburg, Duchess of Bavaria from 1550 until 1579, by her marriage to Duke Albert V. Born the third of fifteen children of King - later Holy Roman Emperor - Ferdinand I and Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, her siblings included: Elizabeth, Queen of Poland; Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor; Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria; Catherine, Queen of Poland; Eleanor, Duchess of Mantua; Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara; Charles II, Archduke of Austria; and Johanna, Duchess of Tuscany. She was engaged several times while still a child, but when she was seventeen she married Prince Albert of Bavaria, the union constituting part of a web of alliances arranged by her uncle Emperor Charles V. After their marriage, the young couple lived at the Trausnitz Castle in Landshut, until Albert became duke upon his father's death in 1550. They would have seven children, five of whom would survive to adulthood. And resident in Munich, the couple had great influence on the spiritual life in the Duchy of Bavaria, generously supporting Catholic establishments, while at the same time enhancing the reputation the capital as a city of art. Patrons to artists and composers, they founded several museums, and laid the foundations for the Bavarian State Library. After her husband's death in 1579, the dowager duchess maintained her own court at the Munich Residenz, where she would die eleven years later at the age of sixty-two.

At the beginning of the jewel book is Muelich's miniature of Albrecht and Anna playing chess while surrounded by attendants... and puppies. 1552.

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Hans Muelich (or Mielich; 1516, Munich – 1573, Munich), German painter and woodcutter, known as a portrait painter and for historical allegories. Born the son of a painter, when he was twenty he moved to Regensburg, and in 1541 he travelled to Rome. On his return to Munich in 1543 he became a member of the painter's guild. His most important works were portraits of aristocrats and other leading figures in Munich, as well as religious works for the Ingolstadt church.