Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 12. (Budapest, 1992)

LÁSZLÓ Emőke: Magyar hímzett és selyemkárpitok a 16-17. századból

Bry). The beauty of the flowers are due to the phantasy of the embroiderer, rather than to the slighdy sharp drawing. Almost all kinds of stitches used in Hungarian secular embroidery, were applied in the couching of metal threads. Earlier, hangings were probably buttoned. Such curtain was given as ransom by Anna Fuger, widow of Miklós Pálffy, for die release of his son (1621): "item egy ágy körül való veres kamuka superlátot aranyos gombokkal és franclival..."(rough translation: item one: a curtain for the bed, made of red wool, equipped widi golden buttons and fringes...)

55 Also, a similar hanging was made for Miklós Estcriiázy in 1628: "csináltattam rojtot 6 gombot Superlátra Valót." (rough translation:! had fringes and six buttons made for the hanging). Inventories from the second half of the century do not mention any buttons; the curtains are lined widi fringed braids and they were probably drawn in and out with the help of a string and a bobble. The fringes and die bobble (Picture 25) of the hangings match well die contemporary European fashion. There are almost identical pieces in several museums, for example in Belgian collections.

56 The material and embroidery of the bedcover with the Thököly arms is very similar to that of the hanging.

57 There is a diagonal, symmetrical flower stem in each comer, while the middle of the shorter sides are decorated with a small rose bough, die longer ones widi bell-flowers, flanked by sunflowers. The escutcheon is placed in die middle, enclosed by a flowery bough and ten small, crossed flower stems. The arrangement of the motifs copies and melts the system of Hungarian Renaissance embroidery and the scattered floral pattern of Western Europe. On some of the crested bedcovers, the escutcheon is encircled by a flowery bough. This technique, replacing the popular foliage, the "Italian wreath" or the bough with small flowers, is fairly typical in Hungarian secular embroidery. It also appears - though in a simpler version - on the bedcover with die Báthori coat of arms. Symmetrical pomegranates, stocks, wild roses, pinks and an undefinable flowers stem from the bough. The flowers in the comers and around the escutcheon reflect the style of Late Renaissance Hungarian embroideries, while the rest - just like those on the curtain - indicate the influence of the cuts in West-European flower books. The coat of arms is rather stylised, enriched witii flowers inside die escutcheon, so the identification was rather difficult. It is most likely a "d" variant of the Thököly coat of aims of Késmárk - a countiy escutcheon, used from 1654 onwards.

58 The shield is divided quarterly, with a smaller escutcheon in the middle, showing a double-headed eagle. There is a crowned lion holding a leaved coronet in the first and fourth quarters, while the second and diird show a leopard widi a curved sword in its raised right or left. The fields are exchanged on the embroidery, the rampant lions and leopards wear no crown and the flowery coronet is only fragmentary. There are two similar curtains registered in the Thököly inventories. As Imre Thököly wrote in his testament: "veres-selyem atiacz, szkófiummal szőtt ágyöltözetet, minthogy ezeken az én kedves fiam-uram Rákóczi Ferenc eleje ezimerc vagyon, ezeket is ő kegyelmének hagyom és testálom." (rough translation: I hereby bequeath the red silk satin bedcurtains, embroidered in gold with the coat of arms of my honoured lord Ferenc Rákóczi to his own person.)

59 In the inventory of the Rákóczi treasury, registered by Ilona Zrinyi in 1688 at Szinna, we find a "veres atiasz ágy 7 darabbul álló és egy keresztbul, arany és ezüst virágokkal varrott"(rough translation: a red satin bedcurtaiii of 7 pieces and