Handstone with Christ on the Mount of Olives

Handstones are samples of rock or ore that have been artistically altered or augmented; mining scenes are generally combined with religious subjects. In the princely Kunstkammer, handstones symbolized the natural wealth of a country, but were also prototypical demonstrations of the bond between nature and art. The group preserved from the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II is today the most significant of its kind worldwide.