Mikó Árpád – Verő Mária - Jávor Anna szerk.: Mátyás király öröksége, Késő reneszánsz művészet Magyarországon (16–17. század) 2. kötet (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/4)

The English Summary of Volumes I—II

ERIKA KISS 16

TH-17

TH CENTURY METALWARE The silverware and jewellery held in family repositories included both household items and pieces for public display, and both were means of accumulating wealth in an easily convertible form. They were clearly treated similarly to money, unset precious stones and metals, since they were stored in the same repositories and treasuries. A trend emerged in the treasuries of several ruling families in the 16th century of safeguarding the family's permanent possession of certain objects by decree. These items later became the central treasures of the Kunstund Wunderkammer. Hungarian aristocrats also took this up. Palatine Pál Pálffy, for example, in his will of 1653, declared as a hereditary heirloom a golden chalice which had been presented by the nobles of Lower Austria to Miklós Pálffy, Chief Captain of Győr, and Pál Esterházy

's will made his treasury part of the entailed property of the estate. The lower nobility, in many cases, followed suit. The larger repositories in the Kingdom of Hungary were dissolved after the Wesselényi Plot, and in the Principality of Transylvania there was no unbroken hereditary power outside the Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia) palace capable of passing on its symbolic rights and continuously safeguarding a treasury; there was a (private) royal treasury, but the princely insignia were always replaced together with the athname received from the Sultan. A high degree of mobility of artefacts also emerges from the inventories, which list many artefacts decorated with the name and arms of the family ancestors, and not a few which had passed from the dominus to the family of a retainer. A rare set of possessions which "wandered" among aristocratic families was a set of László Rákóczi's tableware which survived in the Erdődy family until the 20th century. The practice in Western royal courts of dividing treasures into public and private categories, with specialised staff for each, had no parallel in either Hungary or Transylvania. Metalware was only one of several categories of repository items. During the 17th century, gold and jewellery was stored together with weapons, horse trappings, harnesses and highvalue clothes in both the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania. Commoners also held metal ware and jewellery with a purpose similar to that of aristocratic treasuries — accumulation of convertible property. There was a general difference, however, in both quality and type, even though some commoners in the Kingdom and the Principality in the 16

th17

th centuries listed artefacts of very high value in their inventories. These were usually persons and farnilies with interests in foreign trade; they frequently gained ownership after taking possession on pledge. An important medium of social interaction in the early modern age was the presenting of gifts at certain occasions. In the Middle Ages, precious metal items were the most common diplomatic and New Year gifts, but the vaisselle (vessel) only rarely featured among them until the 15

th century. Gifts in the 17

th century — as ever — had a value expressible in monetary terms, reflecting the rank of the giver and the receiver, the relationship between them, and their intentions. Gold and silver items featured highly among them, as did such luxury articles as carpets, horses, ornate harnesses, clothing and foods (exotic fruit, honey cakes). A kind of ranking can be made out among metalware gifts: spoons were the most modest, followed by cups, tankards and toilet sets. The most exalted gifts were jewels and ornate weapons or harnesses. In the 16

th and 17

th centuries, highlywrought silver vessels and various items of metalware in the Trinkgeschirr category became frequent gift objects, particularly in Central European courts. Silver vessels are principally mentioned in the city-prince, city-king and city-prelate relations. They also played the chief role among gifts to the Porte, which may be regarded as a kind of tax. They were of similar importance in exchanges of gifts between the Vienna court and the Pasha of Buda. They were generally involved if there was a difference in social rank between the giver and the receiver. The cup and tankard were the most common types of gift in Hungary from the late medieval period onwards. The king sent cups, as did early modern age cities, to wealthier middle-ranking landed nobles or aristocrats on the occasion of a christening or wedding. Only during the reign of Prince Mihály Apafi was there a change in practice in the prince's court : silver vessels gave way to harnesses and (ornate) weapons. Cities frequently built up reserves of precious metal and jewellery items so that in case of sudden need they would be ready to back up a request or put a quick stop to some unfavourable development. These items were mostly purchased locally. There are examples of a city purchasing a piece of metalware not for a particular occasion but for "stock", by offsetting a burgher's tax. The political, economic and social differences between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Principality of Transylvania are reflected in the way metalware and jewellery was acquired. There were three sources of Hungarian aristocrats' jewels, tableware and liturgical vessels. The first was by purchase at fairs or from goldsmiths in cities which nobles visited during their travels through the land. The second source was purchase via intermediary merchant-goldsmiths, from which specially-