Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)

SIPOS Enikő: Arányok és mértékek. A magyar koronázási palást struktúrája

ENIKO SIPOS PROPORTIONS AND MEASURES THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUNGARIAN CORONATION MANTLE The technical analysis of the coronation mantle was started in 1983, with a purpose to become familiar with the object, to prepare the conservation work and to decide what special treatment was required by its condition.

1 During the tests we have defined what techniques were used when making the fabric and the embroidery of the mantle and we have also identified the characteristics of the fibres and metal threads applied. We have inspected the condition of the robe, the various alterations, restorations and any physical, chemical or biological damage. A drawing was made in the original size, noting the present state of the mantle. The results of the analysis was published by textile restorer Katalin Nagy, in the Múzeumi Műtárgyvédelem 1983/12 (Protection of Works of Arts in Museums).

2 Even at the start of the material tests we had several problems to solve. We were unable to define the original measurements of the object since it had been cut on each side. During earlier repair, fabric layers of different ages were sewn under the Byzantine material. On the three different layers of textile the embroidery was repaired in a distorted shape, departed from the original place, with dense, unsystematic stitches. The object was patched at several places, mainly with contemporary embroidery fragments made with the same embroidery technique. To define authentically the original places of lacking parts, patches and embroidery, we had to prepare a comprehensive reconstruction drawing, which, compared to the one stating the condition, would be able to note the places of distorsion and restructuring and to show how much had been cut from the front and along the bottom (see pict.9). The mantle can be seen as a simple geometrical shape: a semicircle. It is obvious, that the series of pictures decorating the mantle should have followed the shape and should have been structured in a geometrical system. Consequently, a kind of construction work was needed in order to prepare the necessary plan. The basis of the structure is a square and a circle, a construction principle that was fairly common at that time, since several buildings, goldsmith's works, mosaics and even a carmen pictum is structured according to the connection of circles and squares.

3 Many of diverse proportions could be produced with the help of a compass and a ruler, since the graphic or painted representation of regular geometrical figures, such as circles, isosceles and polygons required no deep mathematical knowledge; it was rather a sensible method of work.

4 We have, therefore, tried to imagine the way how the designer gets a solution to his work. To do so, we had to be familiar with