Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)
András SZILÁGYI: About the Jewelled Cup in the Esterházy Collection
8. Count Adam Kazanowski (1599-1649). Painting by an unknown master, c. 1641 (Muzeum Narodowe, Kraków) called Kazanovszki, who had earlier done his best to gain my sister's hand [the bride, Anna Julianna Esterházy] for Prince Casimirus." 1 5 This brief quotation includes references to three notable historical persons. First the Polish ruler without the name, Vladislav IV, who was represented in Kismarton in 1644 by the named legate, Adam Kazanowski (1599-1649). The third is John Casimir, who was to ascend the throne and reign until 1668 after his brother Vladislav IV's death in 1648 as John II Casimir. As for the actual statement of the sentence, it is hard to verify its authenticity. As much is perhaps not too far-fetched to presume that Pál Esterházy's sister Anna Julianna probably made a deep and very favourable impression on the Polish legate Adam Kazanowski (fig. 8), a prestigious and experienced aristocrat, a leading figure of the Vasa court, who - importantly for our topic — probably arrived with a regal present from Warsaw, to the wedding of the daughter of the Hungarian palatine. The presentation of this presumably imposing wedding gift must have been a highlight of the grand ceremony certainly also attended by the bride's nine-year-old brother Pál. The truly important and unsettled questions arise at this point: first of all, what was this wedding gift? Did it resemble, and to what extent if it did, the jewelled cup - the subject-matter of this paper - which had arrived in Kismarton six years earlier? 1 6 It was probably brought forth from the family treasury on that notable day to enhance the radiance of the event in the stateroom, displayed on the "buffet" table set up for the occasion. How did an eye-witness - Pál Esterházy - recall more than a quarter of a century later, then nearing forty in the 1670s, the event of 1644? As is well known, he grew up to become a great connoisseur of sumptuous Prunkstücks and laid great stress on the aristocratic representation required in the baroque age. An aspect of this family representation was the creation and elaboration of the "family mythology" of the Esterházy clan. This family mythology did not only list some distinguished personages of the past and not so distant past, suggesting or even stressing their (alleged) relations with prominent figures of earlier Esterházy generations. Places were ascribed in this imaginary pantheon to outstanding "public figures" of the recent past and the present, including some contemporary rulers such as John II Casimir, king of Poland. In connection with him let us quote another passage from Pál Esterházy's above-cited recollections: " When in Vien48
