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

ÁCS Piroska: „Átváltozások" - Stobwasser-szelencék dekorációinak művészeti párhuzamai

PIROSKA ÁCS METAMORPHOSES - THE ARTISTIC CORRESPONDENCIES OF THE DECORATION ON STOBWASSER BOXES In 1763 Georg Sigismund Stobwasser and his son founded a lacquerware manufactory in Brunswick, Central Germany. Their products, furniture, beakers, goblets, cups, sticks, pipebowles, etc, were in constant demand on account of their outstanding quality. Of the articles manufactured during the heyday the factory, between 1780 and 1832, the boxes deserve especial attention, because of the quality of their decoration. The lids were fitted, in line with the taste and fashion of the day, with carefully executed miniatures. These were usually skilfully reduced, brightly coloured copies of works by Italian, Dutch, Spanish, French and English masters of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The chosen themes vary: there are as many landscapes, animal pictures, and huntingand battle-scenes as genre paintings of the aristocratic, bourgeois and peasant milieus, with their intimate interiors. Religious topics seem to have been as popular as the portraits of wellknown people and anonymous beauties. Mythological scenes became fashionable from the beginning of the nineteenth century on. The stories from the world of gods, demigods and mortals so vividly related by Ovid were good vehicles for the representations of erotic scenes while at the same time radiating an aura of classical culture. Such boxes, apart from being objects of practical use, gave their happy owners the impression of possessing a small work of art. (As for the beholder, he or she had the opportunity to stand out by recognizing the famous original.) The adornment of the boxes was the result of a careful and intricate process, and was the work of many hands, although the main part was of curse played by the miniaturist.

1 Georg Sigismunde son, Johann Heinrich,

2 succeded in keeping the standards of production unchangingly high, for he disposed of an excellent business sense and great artistic talent. In order to always have enough painters at hand, he founded his own painting-school, where young artists were specially trained in the painting of small-sized lacquer pictures. He also built up a collection of 86 paintings supplemented by a number of etchings, woodcuts and lithographs. This served partly as study material for the students, and partly as a source of models for the lacquer-adornments. Illustrations from almanacs and periodicals were also used as models, as were the watercolour pictures of local painters. A certain amount of cutting and modification was necessary when the chosen original was a painting by a master. This required a capacity for observation and ingenuity on the part of the artist, as well as technical skill. However, individual inventivennes was placed at the service of the unmistakable basic character of the original. Although Stobwasser showed an interest in different types of art, and although some painters did work for him without being linked to the manufactory, he took great care to develop a unified style of an undoubtedly high standard. Carrefully balanced and full compositions, backgrounds creating the illusion of depth, and delicate harmonization of colours were the characteristics of his products. (The main objective was to ensure and augment the success of the manufactory, and not the renown of individual pain-