Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)
András SZILÁGYI: About the Jewelled Cup in the Esterházy Collection
ANDRÁS SZILÁGYI ABOUT THE JEWELLED CUP IN THE ESTERHÁZY COLLECTION In her still indispensable study of some 35 years ago Angéla Héjj Détári made pioneering efforts to systematically compare the surviving items of the Esterházy collection with the items in the baroque-age inventories of the treasury. 1 Subsequent researches on the theme concentrated on collating various inventories in the Esterházy archives with documents from other "provenances" - the co-called control sources with a view to the above method and its results. The need for exact and severe source criticism has become increasingly urgent. 2 It has become more and more imperative to explore which statements in the Esterházy inventories prove to be decisive and unquestionable and which need some caution, correction or modification. Before embarking on the subject of the paper in a strict sense, let me show a few examples of the definitions and presentations of some inscriptions and coats of arms on goldsmiths' works. In March 1589 an inventory was taken which describes the most outstanding achievement of Hungarian renaissance metalwork forty-one years after its making in the following way: "Washing ewer with basin... with the name of Antal Losonczi written on it. " 3 The inscription of donation 4 on the ceremonial pitcher not repeated in detail in the cited text proves it beyond doubt that it is part of the two-piece lavabo set made upon Antal Losonczi's order in 1548 and came later into Esterházy possession as part of Krisztina Nyáry's dowry in the 1620s. 5 The identification of one of the most luxurious gold ornamental objects of the Fraknó treasury is possible on the basis of the following entry in the 1693 inventory: "Canna Aurea cum Adamantibus, Rubinis ac Unionibus exornata, cum insignibus Familiae Széchj..." b The "deciphering" of the coat of arms, that is the heraldic identification of the oval ornament on the decorative cup 7 (with the coat of arms of the Széchy family) is just as unambiguous and unquestionable as is the data in a source some three decades later: "A tall old silver flagon with lid with the coat of arms and name of Ferencz Turzó (sic) written on it." 8 Indeed, the ornamental cup 9 with etching-decoration does have the initials and coat of arms of Ferenc Thurzó on the lid. The above three examples might suggest that there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of this kind of information in documents from the Kismarton (now Eisenstadt, Austria) archives. There are, however, other peculiar instances. For example, an extremely detailed description well suited for indentification can be read in the inventory of 1685 about the notable cup with jewels in the collection. Its important, even indispensable section for our theme runs as follows: "An old stemmed gold cup with gems, supported by a putto on a green toad, 41
