Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 30. (Budapest, 2016)

Edit DARABOS: Altera Theca continens.A Research Into Historical Leather Cases made for Esterhazy Treasury Items

4. Tool in the form of a herm from the case for the covered cup with the allegory of Prudentia

The inventories, other summaries and memoranda from the time of Prince Paul Esterházy (1635-1713) say little about the leather cases, but nevertheless, several cases that are still around to examine have been positively identified based on the sources.

The set of inventories from around 1685,11 comprising several lists documenting the items in the treasury, which had undergone significant expansion under Paul Esterházy, only mentions a few objects together with their cases. Two of these can be matched with treasury items: a set of cutlery12 and two salt cellars.13

The treasury storage cabinets that can still be seen today were made at the start of

the 1690s, when the treasury items were still all together in one place. There are two known inventories in Latin from that period.14 The list from 1696 refers to barely two dozen cases, but it does specify whether the objects were stored in theca indusa, cum theca or sine Theca.15

The inventories made during the lifetime of Palatine Paul Esterházy - unlike those of, for example, Ferenc (Franz) Ná- dasdy’s (1623-71) treasury in Sárvár16 or the treasury of the Electorate of Saxony,17 which indicate the location and quantity of cases without their objects - do not make separate mention of the cases. In order to identify the cases, reference had to be made to the paper labels affixed to them, which bear different kinds of handwriting. The inscriptions, found on a small number of cases, mostly describe only the material the object was made of: Jáspis, Termés Christal (Jasper, Natural [rock] Crystal).

From the descriptions contained in the fiungarian-language inventory carried out by the heirs of Paul Esterházy after his death, in 1721/1725, it emerges that the vast majority of items had their own cases, which were placed in cabinets alongside the items themselves.18 It is reasonable to assume that almost all the cases belonging to the treasury were included in this inventory, although one of the most significant items in the collection, the case for the Pilgrim-bottle, made in the 1590s and surviving to this day, was not mentioned in it.19 The inventory includes descriptions of the cases as well, which allows a few of the less remarkable pieces to be identified, albeit inconclusively. The following description can be associated with a jasper bowl that is located in Forchtenstein: Egy öregh vörös Tokban zománcos aranyban foglalt igen Szép öregh Jaspis Labos Pohár. (A very Fine

32