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

BIRÓNÉ SELY Katalin: Érmés tálka a fraknói Esterházy-kincstárból

5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 (Plate II)—is a Thasos coin, also found at Kisszedcrjes. The second row, diat is die bottom of the bowl, is decorated with copies of Roman imperial denarii. The castings of the Hadrian denarius (Cat. No. 13) were modelled on the BMC 165 type

4 (Plate III), while the Vespasian castings (Cat. Nos 14, 15, 16, 18, 19) were made after the Cohen 81—84 type

5 (Plate IV). Owing to excessive wear and the new engraving of die Vespasian coin, it cannot be exactiy defined. In this case, however, this has no significance, since die important details of coin definition

—i.e. place of minting and chronology

—can be ignored. Coin 17 is analogous with a siliqua of Constantius II, belonging to Cohen 337 type (Plate IV). The mint mark of die casting is too faded to define the mint of die original; neither can the exact year of minting be ascertained

—it was probably made between 347 and 361. The castings witii Cat. Nos 20, 23, 24 were modelled on die Cohen 606 denarius or aureus of Domitian (BMC 60. Plates 8— 9): it shows Pallas Atiiene advancing to die right on a prow, and holding a shield and a spear (Plate VI). The denarius of Antoninus Pius (Cat. No. 21) is rather special, showing caduccus upright between crossed comucopiae (Plate VII). It was modelled on die Cohen 431typc denarius of Antoninus Pius. Coin 22 follows die Cohen 248 denarius of Trajan; reverse: Victory standing on die left (Plate VIII). Coin 25 was cast after the Cohen 1030type of Hadrian denarius. Reverse: Piclas standing, raising both hands, witii an altar at die right foot (Plate IX). No analogies have been found for die Christ médaillon, but it is supposed to be a cast copy of a médaillon that was issued in small numbers (Illustrations 11—12). Reading throughthc comprehensive studies

—Habich, Katz, Huszár—Procopius

6

— we did not manage to find a precedent. The unusual feature of the médaillon is that Christ's head is surmounted by a cross. The popularity of this variant probably arose after the so-called Salvator medals; the illustration is identical to that of Valentin Mahler. In fact, the only difference from die known type of medals is that the head of die Salvator is embellished with a cross instead of a crown of rays. The Salvator medals occurcd from die middle of die sixtcentii century onwards. Ligatures, as well as abbreviations, were used from this time onwards. According to Vera Héri, the cast médaillon of the bowl is from die early seventeenth century.

7 We have managed to find several analogies for the bowl. In the collection of goldsmith's work held by the Hungarian National Museum there is a small bowl or cup decorated with coins.

8 (The foreign-language literature tends to use the word "cup" instead of "bowl" for pieces of this shape.) The bowl mentioned above also shows die cast copies of denarii from the Roman Republic and Empire in two rows. The middle of the bottom is decorated with a "paduan" medal, showing the name of Domitian.

9 The short, hollow rim of the bowl is enframed by chased masks. The cast handle is decorated with a hcrm, satyrs and a cornucopia. The narrow foot rim was made of rolled sheet with eggs and darts. On the surface, between the cast Roman coins, there are alternating male and female masks; in the bottom row, the coins arc separated by Renaissance bunches of fruit. The castings arc double sided: die obverses decorate the inside, the reverses the outside of die bowl. Apparently several copies were made from the same mould; therefore many of the coins are absolutely identical, and are marked with HB, the maker's mark