05 - Sanitary porcelain

05/01/11 • 0 min

Vienna Hofburg - Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum, Silver Collection

Before Empress Elisabeth had her own bathroom installed in 1876 – the first member of the Austrian imperial family to do so – the palace had no bathrooms in the modern sense of the word. Even after this, the majority of those belonging to the court household had to make do with sets of sanitary porcelain consisting of washbasins, water jugs, footbaths, shaving bowls, soap dishes, chamber pots and so on. While these sets were not uniform, the majority of items were made of white porcelain and decorated with a gold rim and a gold imperial eagle.

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© by Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.

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06 - Minton Service

A remarkable exhibit here is the unusual English dinner service that Empress Elisabeth gave to Emperor Franz Joseph for his hunting lodge at Offensee. Dating to 1870, it was designed by William Coleman and is decorated with naturalistic representations of insects, birds, sea creatures and plants.

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© by Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.

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04 - Court table linen, place setting of service used for state visits

The central display case contains items from the imperial Linen Room. Up to 1872 the linen of the imperial household was marked with various stamps and yellow dye; it was not until later that monograms and crowns were embroidered on the individual items. Towels and bedlinen used to be made exclusively of fine white linen. It was not until the end of the 19th century that towels made of piqué, and later of terrycloth, came into use. Various porcelain services in the display cases provide a picture of how tastes changed over the course of time. At the beginning of the 19th century the tableware for everyday use in the reigns of Emperors Franz I and Ferdinand I changed very little: plain white porcelain with a smooth gold rim; only the imperial eagle gives any clues as to the current fashion or the individual style of the craftsman who painted these items. In the display case to the left of the doorway to the next room you can see pieces from the “State Visit Service” which was used until recently as a formal service for state banquets; you will be hearing more about this later on in the tour. During the time of the monarchy it was known as the “Court Form Service” and was used for evening dinners attended by the imperial family.

www.hofburg-wien.at | Download Tour-Guide (PDF)
© by Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.