Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 24. (Budapest, 2006)
István SIMONYI: Questions and answers. An attempt at defining the so-called „Bethlen-Násfa"
ISTVÁN SIMONYI QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AN ATTEMPT AT DEFINING THE SO-CALLED "BETHLEN-AM SM" After a long period, the so-called "Bethlennásfá" of the collection is put on display again at the new "permanent" exhibition of the Museum of Applied Arts. 1 Since this notable jewel is alleged by a noteworthy tradition to have belonged to a legendary ensemble, it is time to revise and reinterpret our knowledge about the topic. It is also high time to do so, because apart from a few descriptions of varying length, the last comprehensive study of the art work in question was published a quarter of a century ago by Zoltán Szilárdfy. : There is also a series of uncertainties associated with the more recent history of the "Beihlen-násfas". A logical point of departure for the investigation of the theme is the (great) exhibition of goldsmith's works in 1884 of decisive importance for the research into goldsmithing to this day. At the exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum, the experts and the public could see five similar jewels at the same time. (fig. 1 ) It was the first and last occasion for the five jewels to be on display simultaneously. The catalogue of great source value gave short descriptions of each item that are (more or less) suitable for the identification of the jewels. Under item 13. Násfa, the following can be read: "Tradition has it that at the wedding of Prince Gábor Bethlen with Catherine of Brandenburg, six pages and the prince himself were wearing such násfas, those of the pages being of silver, the one worn by the prince being of gold. In our exhibition, beside the gold piece which possibly belonged to the prince there are four items of the kind, namely numbers II , 12,14 and Î5." 3 Tradition here means the family tradition of the aristocrats who lent the pieces for the exhibition. In 1896, at the millenary exhibition three násfas of the kind were put on display at the showing of Hungary's historical relics. Two of them were surely present at the 1884 exhibition, too, the third probably was not. To the description of one of them - including the statement "...six pages and the prince himself were wearing such násfas" - a photo was also added in the exhibition catalogue. In another plate of photos showing objects from the age of princes, the three násfas are shown adorning the gala costume of Catherine of Brandenburg. 4 During the researches related to this paper, I came across the archive photo of another "Bethlen-/7ös/(3" - later converted into a hat-pin - which was owned by count Henrik Apponyi when the photo was taken, as the handwritten caption said. 5 (fig. 2) A mere two of the jewels in Hungary survived the historical upheavals following the Millenary Exhibition for sure: one in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum, and one in the Museum of Applied Arts. There is great uncertainty about the rest of the one-time ensemble. Angéla Héjj-Détári claims that such pieces are in private property as well as in Dresden and Czç stochowa," while Erika Kiss appears to know of a third silver-gilt "Bethlennásfd" in a German private collection, also mentioning a piece earlier privately owned in Budapest but latent since the 1960s. 7 Nevertheless, some other jewels can also be included in the investigations with the help of which our knowledge on the theme might be enlarged.
