Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 15. (Budapest, 1995)

BALLA Gabriella: „Szerelem és ármány" - Mercurius és Aglauros. A kerámia gyűjtemény egyik „istoriato" tálja

Impressum Francofurti, apud Georgium Corvinum, Sigismundum Feyerabent et haeredes Wigandi Galli [1563] Széchényi National Library, Budapest. Sign.: 13.100. 17. Lessmann, Johanna: Italienische Majolika. Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig. Katalog der Sammlung. (Braunschweig, 1979) Cat. No. 209. 18. Ovid: op. cit., 2, 730-751. Mercury now turns his course, leaves the air and flies to earth, nor seeks to disguise himself; such is the confidence of beauty. Yet though that trust be lawful, he assits it none the less with pains; he smooths his hair, arranges his robe so that it may hang neatly and so that all the golden border will show. He takes care to have in his right hand his smooth wand with which he brings on sleep or drives it away, and to have his winged sandals glittering on his trim feet. <. In a retired part of the house were three chambers, richly adorned with ivory and tortoise-shell. The right-hand room of these Pandrosos occupied, Aglauros the left, and Herse the room between. Aglauros first saw the approaching god and made so bold as to ask his name and the cause of his visit. He. grandson of Atlas and Pleione, replied: "I am he who carry my father's messages through the air. My father is Jove himself. Nor will I conceal why I am here. Only do you consent to be true to your sister, and to be called the aunt of my offspring. I have come here for Herse'

s sake. I pray you favour a lover's suit." Aglauros looked at him with the same covetous eyes with which she had lately peeped at the secret of the golden-haired Minerva, and demanded a mighty weight of gold as the price of her service; meantime, she compelled him to leave the palace. 19. Ovid: op cit., 2, 683-707. And while thy thoughts were all of love, and while thou didst discourse sweetly on the pipe, the cattle thou wast keeping strayed, 'tis said, all unguarded into the Pylian fields. There Maia's son spied them, and by his native craft drove them into the woods and hid them there. Nobody saw the theft except one old man well known in that neighbourhood, called Battus by all the countryside. He, as a hired servant of the wealthy Neleus, was watching a herd of blooded mares in the glades and rich pasturefields thereabouts. Mercury feared his tattling and, drawing him aside with cajoling hand, said: "Whoever you are, my man, if anyone should chance to ask you if you have seen any cattle going by here, say that you have not; and, that your kindness may not go unrewarded, you may choose out a sleek heifer for your pay"; and he gave him the heifer fortwith. The old man took it and replied: "Go on, stranger, and feel safe. That stone will tell of your thefts sooner than I"; and he pointed out a stone. The son of Jove pretended to go away, but soon came back with changed voice and form, and said: "My good fellow, if you have seen any cattle going along this way, help me out, and don't refuse to tell about it, for they were stolen. I'll give you a cow and a bull into the bargain if you'll tell." The old man, tempted by the double reward, said: "You'll find them over there at the foot of that mountain." And there, true enough, they were. Mercury laughed him to scorn and said: "Would you betray me to myself, you rogue? me to my very face?" So saying, he turned the faithless fellow into a flinty stone, which even to this day is called touch-stone; and the old reproach still rests upon the undeserving flint. 20. Ovid: op. cit., 2. 814-832. ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Dish showing the story of Mercury and Aglauros, Urbino, c. 1535^10 (?) 2. Mercury and Aglauros - detail of the dish 3. Battus and Mercury (?) - detail of the depiction on the dish 4. Pandrosos and Herse - detail of the dish 5. Coat of arms of Nicolaus Rabenhaupt von Suche and Genoveva Lamparter on the rim of the dish 6. Inscription on the base of the dish 7. Mercury Glimpsing Herse - woodcut by Bernard Salomon, 1559 8. Mercury Turning Battus into Stone - woodcut by Bernard Salomon, 1559 9. Mercury and the "Jealous" Aglauros - woodcut by Bernard Salomon, 1559