Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)
E. NAGY Katalin: „... elegyesen kötött öreg száras gomb" a 17. század második feléből
This period was marked by the excessive demand for buttonworks, which gave a boom to such guilds. By the middle of the seventeenth century North-Hungarian guilds, which had been found by German masters and were already flourishing in the sixteenth century, were followed by others - there was a master in every big settlement. They cither sold their pieces at fairs or they were working on commission. 15 Aristocrats with great courts had tehir own "courtly" button-maker to meet their needs and requirements. 16 The making of the masterpiece were regulated in the articles of 16th-17th century button-making guilds: (rough translation): "twclf pairs of flowery square buttons, made of gold or silver and silk, in the Hungarian style." (Igló, 1692) "The masterpiece should be twelf bunches of flowery woven buttons, made of gold or silver in the Hungarian style..." /Rozsnyó, 1696/ 17 We can find the following terms in the 1627 price list of Gábor Bethlen: "öreg mentére arannyal ezüsttel szőtt, mentől szélesb nagyobb száras gombot egy forinton" (Buttons woven with gold and silver, as big as possible with large stem, for one forint) "rojtos végű vitézkötéscs gombot hetveöt pénzen" (a frogs-and-loops button with fringes for seventy-five); "royt nélköl szőtt öreg száras gombnak párját hatvan pénzen..." (a pair of a large-stemmed button woven without fringes, for sixty...) 18 Perhaps the most difficult one of all buttons was the one woven with two differently coloured silk thread, gold and silver, which was called "a button of a mixed weaving, with large stem". Radvánszky said the following about this type: "the broad, woven stem is only a band that is a continuation of the buttons; it is sewn on the front of the dolman, replacing the loop string of today." 19 His description refers only to the shape and says nothing about the technique. The 1633 regulation of the Button-making guild of Sopron reveals that the masterpiece was made with tablet-weaving.(rough translation): " Fourth. The masterpieces which should be made by those who want to belong to the Masters whould be as follows: 1. A pair of woven buttons for upper clothing, with a gold thread and a blackish crimson silk thread in the middle, it should be woven with eighty tablets. The two borders should be almond-shaped, woeven with silver and blue silk. The ends should be starred frogs-and-loops. 2. Twclf buttons for doman, which should be heart-shaped, woven with gold, silver and red Crimson silk. 3. Star-shaped button, as big as an egg. 4. a cornel-shaped button of three differently coloured silk damask. 5. A double Janicsár button of two types of silk." 20 The two mentes from the Fraknó treasury of the Esterházy family - one is made of green velvet, slashed at the shoulder, with long sleeves, the other is short-sleeved, made of dark purple velvet - arc described in three different places, the 1654, the 1685 and the 1725 inventories. 21 The 12 pairs of tablet woven "stemmed buttons" were made with 76 and 72 tablets. The warps of the band border are blue, red, green / blue, red, purple silk threads, while the warp of the band is green and dark purple silk. The invisible weft is silk, the patter weft is a gilt silver wire thread. The base of the pear-shaped buttons is sewn from matching silk yarn, while the decoration is sewn with gilt silver thread twisted with a thick silk yarn. The buttonhole was made with pipe weaving, of a silver yarn matching the colour of the warps - which means that the button and the stem were made at the same time. The
