From 12 September 2024 to 5 January 2025 the Mauritshuis will host The lost museum, an exhibition featuring more than 120 objects from the Royal Cabinet of Rarities, which was housed on the ground floor of the Mauritshuis between 1822 and 1875. It was a museum with thousands of objects from around the world. The rooms were stuffed full of exhibits. Visitors to the exhibition will discover all kinds of items that were once displayed there, including jewellery, dolls, vases, scent bottles, suits of armour, weapons, a pagoda and even plaits of hair. ‘The lost museum’ will also take a critical look at the rich but often complex history of the collection, and its influence on the present. How and why did people collect objects? What stories were told about them, and were they true?
Objects in the exhibition
What did the Royal Cabinet of Rarities look like? Display cases full of objects related to subjects like Dutch history, China, Japan, origins and ethnology will give an impression of what was on display. Besides the objects from other countries and cultures, Dutch history also featured prominently. Dutch culture and history was extolled, particularly in comparison with other cultures. Stories were exaggerated and deployed as disinformation to evoke national pride.
Aristocratic hair
Visitors will, for example, be able to see plaits of hair from Prince William IV (1711-1751) and Jacoba of Bavaria, Countess of Holland (1401-1436). William IV’s hair is genuine. It was taken by his son, stadtholder William V when he was forced to flee as the French revolutionary army invaded in 1795. Jacoba’s locks are said to have been found during excavations in the Binnenhof in 1770, though there is no evidence that her grave was there. Nevertheless, this plait became an ingredient of myth-making and national pride. The hair of both these individuals was a tangible reminder of the Netherlands’ famous past and the power of the House of Orange at a time when the country was a new kingdom, and had only its ‘glorious’ past to look to for examples of success.
A ‘real’ mermaid
This monstrous creature is a ningyo – literally ‘human-fish’, or a mermaid. It is made up of a salmon’s tail, monkey skin and a dog’s jaw, among other things. Mermaids have featured in Japanese culture for centuries and were attributed special powers, such as bringing good luck or immortality. In both Japan and Europe, they were eagerly collected and displayed as special features. Over the centuries, Europeans paid huge sums of money for supposedly ‘real’ mermaids.
Deshima
An impressive, six-metre-long model of the artificial island of Deshima stood in the Japanese room. For centuries, the Netherlands was the only European country to trade with Japan, from this island. This model of the island, comprising almost 200 parts, including homes, warehouses, gardens and a flagpole, gave a detailed impression of Deshima in the 19th century. The country’s trading relations with Japan were greatly exaggerated at the Cabinet of Rarities in order to prompt a sense of pride among visitors. The Dutch presence in Japan was presented as much greater than it actually was. Though Deshima appeared to be an entire continent as presented in the Cabinet, in reality the island measured only 214 by 64 metres.
”Devil’s work”
Back then, visitors could marvel at ivory Chinese ‘puzzle balls’, which showcased the sophistication of Chinese craftsmanship. This one, dated around 1770-1780, has nine layers and fourteen peepholes. The balls inside can be rotated relative to one another using a pin, to reveal the secrets of this ivory ‘collector’s item’. Such puzzle balls were intended mainly to astound the public. They could barely imagine that such a thing could be made, so they were dubbed the ‘devil’s work’.
A peek inside
We do not know how the rooms occupied by the Cabinet of Rarities were arranged. There is only one image, showing visitors on a guided tour led by caretaker Hendrick Hentzepeter (1781-1845). The 1843 print shows a Chinese pagoda, a doll in traditional dress and a porcelain vase.Thanks to the 1824 guide we do know how the collection was divided among the different rooms in the Cabinet of Rarities. The first two were full of Chinese objects, including porcelain vases, ivory objects and everyday items. The third and largest room was dedicated to Japan, with the large model of the island of Deshima as the eye-catching centrepiece. The fourth room contained objects from all over the world. Objects from different cultures were place in juxtaposition, in order to compare cultures. The first director of the museum, Reinier Pieter van de Kasteele, hoped in this way to reveal the development of ‘civilisation’. He ranked cultures on a ladder, with European culture as the ‘highest-ranking’. The final room stoked national pride even further with objects that referred to the history of the ‘fatherland’, the royal family and stadtholders of the past. The goal was to ensure that visitors left the Cabinet of Rarities with the inspiring stories of their ‘great ancestors’ fresh in their minds, and a sense of renewed national self-worth.
Then and now
The Royal Cabinet of Rarities closed its doors for good in 1883, having existed for 60 years. It closed following criticism of the ‘chaotic presentation’ and ‘lack of focus on the story of the Netherlands’. Although the objects left the Mauritshuis, the 19th-century world view, influenced by colonialism and nationalism, persisted. In the exhibition, the Mauritshuis will reflect on this past from the perspective of the present day: is the lost museum really gone?
