Folia Historica 28. (Budapest, 2013)

II. KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Ewa Letkiewicz: The Hungarian King's Daughter Kinga's 13th Century Jewel in Polish Collections

The mediaeval imitations of the manner ä I'antique, despite the attempts to match the antique prototypes were usually crude, concise and not very precisely made. Also the proportions of their structure were different and the anatomy ignored the existence of muscles in the body.

Besides the imitations of antique gems, the contemporary portraits were also created in the 13th century. To make them the formula of antique profiled portrait or bust was used. However, the inscriptions, attires, hairstyles and accessories specific for the 13th century were retained.18 The survived examples of thirteen-century personages' portrait gems in the manner á I'antique are real rarities. Most of them were squandered by the subsequent owners or - as Hans Wentzel supposes - wrongly dated - they are waiting in collections for correct identification.19 The costume and formal features reveal their non-antique origin the fastest. These can be such features as: sharp-arched elements of the framework of gem surround,20 gothic cut of the inscription letters,21 mediaeval accessories of the attire,22 mediaeval hairstyle type (which, for instance, can be observed in the brooch of Oxwich from the year 1250,23 in the gem from the Hermitage), or the interpretation of anatomical features of the presented figures, like in the above-mentioned brooch from the Carand collection in Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.24

The last three of the listed features, i.e. the elements of costume, kind of hairstyle and the interpretation of bodily anatomy helped to specify the dating and identification of the gem of Sqcz.

The very first observations after analyzing the clothes of the man from the gem of Sqcz exclude its Egyptian, Greek or antique origin. The little cap tightly fitting to the head, tied under the chin was an element of male attire worn in Western Europe in the 13th century. The little caps remained in Italian fashion the longest - until the beginning of 15th century.25 Numerous applications of this headgear can be observed in the 13th century European art.26 As examples we can indicate the figures of fighting wrestlers

18 Miller, A. M. op. cit. 25.

19 Wentzel, H. Portraits „Ä I'antique" op. cit. 343.

20 The examples of such kind are: portrait gem of the year 1265 on the seal of Ansel de Bucy in a four-leaf or multiplied pointed arches forming a rosette on the seal of Henri de Béthune of the year 1312. The indicated examples are contained in Wentzel, H. Portraits „Ä I'antique" op. cit. 345. table 48 k, 345. table 49 and subsequent ones.

21 Idem 345. table 48 k.

22 E.g. mediaeval royal crowns. Idem 345. table 49 a.

23 Lightbown, R. W. op. cit., colored table 21, brooch kept in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, consists of three ruby and three chalcedony portrait cameos.

24 Lightbown, R. W. op. cit. 25. photo 8.

25 Corson, Richard: Fashion in Hair. The First Five Thousand Years. London, 2005.102-103.

26 These were worn by peasants as late as in the 15th century, which is shown by the miniature October in the calendar Trés Riches Heures, owned by Duke de Berry, painted by the Limburg brothers, ca. 1415-1416, in the collections of Musée Condé in Chantilly.

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