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

KOVÁCS Éva: Művesség és tudomány a középkorban. A magyar koronázási palást készítésének egy aspektusa

past centuries it became obvious that the design was in fact on the basic fabric, in the form of an easily applicable ink drawing or as a coloured "pourtraiture".

6 An endless pattern and (sometimes quite exquisite) border trimming, with certain parts being emphasized by embroidery or braids - these are the main characteristics of chasuble "composition". Yet in this case neither of the above procedures can be referred to. Earlier I compared the mantle to the composition of large goldsmith's works, and especially to contemporary altar frontals; Marie Schuette and Sgirid Müller-Christensen, two excellent textile experts, on the other hand, compared it to apse vaults, probably because of its spectacular monumentality.

7 Nevertheless, I would like to stick to my idea since the colouring of the mantle - red on gold, then silk patches of modestly portioned blue and originally green - matches the typical colouring of contemporary goldsmith's works. Unfortunately, the excellent work of Joseph Braun lacks a modern summary, thus the history if the bell chasuble is analysed in depth from certain aspects but is hardly examined at all from others, inspite of the fact that the restoration process in the decades following World War II gave us with several lessons.

8 Restorers found that 10fh-13th century classical bell chasubles were not lined; they were generally made of one fairly wide piece of fabric /coupon/, completed with the pieces lhat had been cul off when shaping the semicircle. The lining was partly replaced by trimming, which can either be a braid or a seam folded inside.

9 According to the explanation of Izidor of Sevilla, the word casulu means a hut or a small house, which would be approppriate to the shape of this vestment; yet in Rome these pieces were called planéta, amphibalus or infula.

10 The bell-shaped paenula originates from the Greco-Roman world; earlier it was a dress for both sexes and all society layers, later it was mainly worn by the aristocracy. Its lay, clergical or liturgical use went on parallelly for a long time. It became an exclusively ecclesiastical vestment relatively late and it was even later that the piece became the special dress of a priest celebrating the mass. The origin of the fork cross, which is the typical decoration of the chasuble, is yet unknown; Braun probably was right to explain the motif by practical reasons: he said that its main role was to hide and decorate the sewing line of the front. If we go further on in practicality we find that at the back the same stripe prevents the large, raffled fabric from stretching, and the diagonal stem of the cross guided the hood-like fold at the back of the neckline. The direction of this diagonal stem was defined by the isosceles we get if the top part of the finished bell chasuble is folded away. However, the composition of the chasuble is far from being similar to the above, typical one. The traditional fork cross - with excessively deep diagonal stems - is complemented by a tight, rhythmic geometrical core, which is a decoration in itself. Its role is to divide the different groups, while the cross depicts the main pictures in decorative frames. At the same time, this core is also suitable to emphasize certain parts of the body: different pictures mark the chest, the back and the shoulders and the body is enclosed by stripes. (I would also like to add here that even the simplest chasubles had to be rolled up to the arms of the shoulders in order to free the hands - this vestment must have been extremely uncomfortable as a chasuble./ In the interpretation of the composition, both aspects - the planimetric aspect, i.e. the way of manufacturing and the stereometric aspect, i.e. the relations