Szabó Miklós, Petres F. Éva: Decorated weapons on the La Tene Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 5; Budapest, 1992)
III. THE HUNGARIAN SWORD STYLE - The classification of the material
Waldalgesheim based early Sword Style. This suggestion is further confirmed by two other scabbards from Jutas which had been known also to P. Jacobsthal, who considered them to be work of the same master. 296 The scabbard catalogued under No. 117 in Jacobsthal's Early Celtic Art (here Jutas 2: Cat.no. 22; PL 22) has already been discussed in the above: a conspicuous element of its decoration is the postWaldalgesheim tendril appearing as a filler motif within the symmetrical design. 297 The third Jutas scabbard (Jutas 3: Cat.no. 23, Suppl. 2) is topped with a dragon-pair which can be assigned to Type I pairs, but which — owing to its poor state of preservation — would perhaps better be described as a Type I/III transition. 298 Worthy of mention is the triskeles pattern between the antithetic animal pair, as well as the attempt to link the diagonal composition with the dragons. The connection with the decorative concept of the Halimba scabbard is undeniable, even if a distinct tendency towards the simplification of the filler motifs is more apparent on the Jutas scabbard. This is primarily reflected by that the tendrils blossoming into "trumpet flowers" are set against a background of fine hatching — which acquires an almost scale-like appearance —, which contrasts sharply with the tendril pattern of double engraved lines. It is exactly these two technical details, the "scaled" background and the double framing line, which most plausibly support Jacobsthal's suggestion that the two sheaths can be attributed to the same craftsman. 299 The Jutas 3 scabbard, dating to the early phase of the Middle La Tène period, illustrates one possible solution to the problems posed by the Halimba specimen. The linking of the dragon-pair to the tendril ornament has already been mentioned. The next step in the articulation of the Sword Style design is the growing emphasis on the restless, Baroque-like effect of two antithetic diagonal compositions. The fine scale-grid filling the tendril pattern moves beyond the simple hatched leaf motif, entering the realm of sharp contrasts with the play of light and shade. 300 Closely allied to this scabbard from a morphological point of view is sword 5 from Jutas (Cat.no. 25; PL 24) which survived in a poor state of preservation. The most plausible reconstruction of the design on the upper part of the front plate is a fusion of the dragon-lyre and the palmette: the zoomorphic motif becomes not only a structural part of the composition, but is itself vegetalised having been transformed into palmettes. Similar tendencies have been noted in the art of the so-called peripheral civilisations, but excellent parallels can also be cited from the late, anticlassical tendency of south Italian red figure vase painting. 301 The pattern covering the spear from Csabrendek (Cat.no. 7; PL 9) — that was lost during the Second World War —, poses similar problems. 302 Not even an accurate drawing of its pattern is known. The role of the "hidden" zoomorphic ornament within the symmetric tendril pattern, which on side "a" has been concealed in the intricate drop pattern, is all too conspicuous. On side "b", as well as on the base of the socket, the postWaldalgesheim tendril still figures prominently. 303 This survey of various attempts to solve a given problem (such as combining the Sword Style design with zoomorphic motifs; the construction of the overall pattern, etc.) cannot be simply projected onto investigations aimed at distinguishing between individual engravers. One very emphatic caveat in this respect, often voiced by students of classical archaeology, is that the attribution method can only be applied in the case of figurai compositions. It is an entirely different matter that beside and also in the course of such analyses decorative motifs and techniques must also be considered, even if the latter allow, at the most, the definition of a workshop (or a closely related group). 304 As regards Celtic swordsmiths the focus of interest must obviously be the analysis of the habitual technical repertory, insofar as the condition of the iron artefact permits this. The assumed identity of the engraver of scabbards 2 and 3 from Jutas (Cat.no. 22; PL 22; Cat.no. 23, Suppl. 2) can only be accepted on this basis, and it is also quite probable that this engraver is not necessarily identical with the manufacturer of the scabbards. The counter-check to this statement is offered by a comparison of scabbards 3 and 4 from Jutas (Cat.no. 23, Suppl. 2; Cat.no. 24; PI. 23) and the inclusion of scabbard 5 from the same site (Cat.no. 25; PL 24) in the typological/morphological analysis: the differences between the designs on these scabbards contrasts sharply with the swordsmith workshop tradition which can best be observed in the cut out of the scabbards. Observations like these illustrate the difficulties which clearly define the limits of investigations aimed at the identification of workshops and individual engravers. 305 This would suggest that the ornaments discussed in the above represent a distinct tendency within the Hungarian Sword Style which preserved the decorative traditions of the Waldalgesheim Style. In terms of chronology this corresponds to the early phase of the Sword Style which goes back to the La Tène B2, and
