Page - 30 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

30 Sektion I: Themen und Medien der Repräsentation Theresa’s deceased spouse Franz Stephan begins to make sense. As father to the chil- dren represented here and brother of its intended recipient, one would expect him to be included, but the object’s function as an imperial dynastic statement renders him unnecessary, since his sons Joseph and Leopold convey the imperial message. The object therefore engages only minimally with concepts of reciprocation and reward, which would be characteristic for gifted snuffboxes of the kind Khevenhüller mentions.19 Instead, it makes visible political and familial relationships and rejoices in dynastic success. My point is that this object’s materiality, the way in which it is arranged and its elements combined, contains an essential source of meaning in it. It may be enough to say that its formal arrangement communicates something of its importance; that the intricately handled materials and finely painted images are components of its value. But rearranging the portraits on the snuffbox would in fact have changed fundamentally what it says. It is not simply a group of pictures, but pic- tures arranged in a specific configuration that reveals the social system within which these individuals imagined themselves relating to each other. It could even be said Figure 2: Franz von Mack and Antonio Bencini, Snuffbox of Prince Kaunitz,1773, bottom side.