Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 31. (Budapest, 2017)
Veronika SZILÁGYI: Rebirth of the Gundel Centrepiece: Methodological Experiments in the Restoration of Enamelled Metalwork
and floral ornaments, made from silver and decorated with filigree, enamel and gemstones, which were affixed with screws.15 The lacework rims of the shell-shaped dishes are fringed with twisted wire. Perhaps the most ornately decorated part of the entire centrepiece is the rim decoration that surrounds the bowl made of the five shell-shaped dishes. Both sides of the rim are fringed with double twisted wires, formed by twisting together flat cords, with a rectangular cross-section, and beaded wire. Recurrent decorative sections are aligned closely beside one another, screwed onto the base of the horizontal band of the rim, which is covered with web-like patterning and filigree with granulation.16 Between the mandorla-shaped components'7 are alternating four-leaved rosettes18 and filigree hemispheric decorations.19 Each component, which is decorated with enamelled leaves and gemstones, and which also serves to hold the rim in place, is made of several layers and can be disassembled. The filigree hemispheres and the enamelled mandorlas were probably made using the electrotyping technique, as the distinctive dimpled surface is visible on their lower sides. The tell-tale signs of electrotyping can also be seen on the reverse of the shell decorations and on the brooches that decorate the gaps between them. The fact that this technique was employed on a work of this kind constituted one of the most interesting new pieces of information about the centrepiece that were discovered during the restoration process. The decorative rim is completed by the openwork outer rim, made of cast silver and featuring leaf ornamentation. The top of the upper section is the result of its later conversion. Originally, a statuette of Minerva, enthroned inside a domed structure, was surrounded by a curving cast balustrade, broken up by five figures of putti. The statuette was later replaced with a removable six-branched, cast candelabrum on a round base, featuring engraved decorations and detachable arms. The five putti are holding tools and implements that symbolise different areas of trade and industry: a caduceus, a mining hammer, a gearwheel, a winged train wheel and a rowing oar. Five detachable spherical ornaments, decorated with filigree and enamel, now adorn the original bases of the columns, which have remained on the top of the balustrade. Previously, these bases supported the rock-crystal columns that held the enamelled dome above the central statuette. The design of these spherical ornaments follows that of the enamelled, filigree hemispheres decorating the rim. The later additions were naturally designed to harmonise with the original work. The decorations on the six-branched candelabrum also imitate those on the lower part, although they are proportionally reduced. These include the granulated surface soldered onto the central arm of the candelabrum, which rises up from the cast flattened sphere; the five appliqué mandor- la decorations; and the blue-petalled, enamelled and gemstone-bearing floral decorations that are affixed with screws, which also appear—soldered with tin—on the bobeches. The rims of the bobeches also feature, in miniature, the same patterns used on the rim of the central section. The condition of the Gundel Centrepiece Due to the impressive size of the centrepiece and its spectacular and elaborate decorations, the damaged condition it was in 112
