Budapest Régiségei 17. (1956)

ANYAGKÖZLÉSEK - Pataky Dénesné: A pest-budai fémművesség emlékei Csongrád megye egyházaiban 279-297

Mrs. D. PAT AKT ECCLESIASTIC ART TREASURES The Government Decree for the protection of historic monuments issued in 1949 ordered a census to be taken of the art treasures of the country. Accordingly, a scrutiny was instituted to take stock of all historic monuments in each of our counties. In the course of exploring pieces of fine workmanship in the County of Csongrád, a fair number of hitherto unknown art treasures made by the goldsmiths of Pest were discovered. These discoveries distributed fresh data to the history of gold-, silver-, tin-, and coppersmith's craft as exercised in Pest and Buda towards the end of the 18th and during the 19th century, a period of paramount importance for the recent history of the Hungarian goldsmith's art. The goldsmiths of Pest formed a guild in 1759 : J. Schätzl, born in Vienna, was one of the seven foundation masters, and his most beautiful chalice is now in the treasury of the Franciscan order in Szeged. The chalice was made in 1763, when Schätzl was warden of the guild ; it is fashioned in the style of the Vienna rococo. A monstrance in the Roman Catholic Church of Kiskundorozsma, the work of J. M. Schwager, shows the forms of the late rococo. All other works of art made by the goldsmiths of Pest that were found among the relics in the County of Csongrád show the classicistic style and that of the age of Louis XVI. The first to be mentioned of these relics is a chalice at Kiskundorozsma : it Was made in 1790 and bears the initials M. S. making it probable that it is likewise the work of J. M. Schwager, as there was no other master with these initials in Pest at that epoch. The silver monstrance in the church of the Franciscan Friars in the upper town of Szeged bears the initials MIM, and is the work executed about 1781 of an unknown silversmith of Pest. There is a silver ciborium in the Roman Catholic Church at Csongrád : this was made towards the end of the 18th century by F. Pasberger, a famous master, who received his certificate of mastership in 1787 in Pest. There are, all in all, nine pieces of works of art in the county which hailed from the workshop of J. Prandtner sr. Both J. Prandtner and F. Pasberger were gold- and silversmiths of great renown in Pest, the centre of goldsmithery in the 19th century. Three members of Prandtner's family were goldsmiths, among whom J. Prandtner sr. had the highest repute and stood in the greatest demand. IN THE COUNTY OF CSONGRÁD His works are notable pieces of the Empire style as modified in Vienna and adapted to conditions in Hungary. An early oeuvre of this master is the ciborium from 1792 in the Roman Catholic church at Kiskundorozsma. Two sanctuary lamps from 1800 in the Greek church at Szentes, two further sanctuary lamps made in 1796, the censers from 1832 in the Roman Catholic churches at Kistelek and Szentes, respectively, and the naviculae, made in 1832, in the Roman Catholic churches at Kistelek and Kiszombor, respectively, bear witness to the high level of this master's art. A chalice, made by an unknown goldsmith of Pest about 1796 in the French style of Louis XVI, bears the initial K and is in the custody of the Roman Catholic church at Kiskundorozsma. Five pieces, showing the style of the Empire, now in the various churches of Csongrád, came from the workshop of the master A. Müller in Pest : 1 chalice in the Greek church at Szentes, 1 lance, 1 spoon, 1 star from 1796, and a sanctuary lamp in the Roman Catholic church at Kiskundorozsma. A censer, in the shape of a vase, of the Greek church at Szentes, was made about 1796 by L. Fischer, a master goldsmith is Pest. The navicula and censer of the Roman Catholic church at Hódmezővásárhely, bearing ornamental elements in the French style, are the works of J. Liebrich, a master in Buda who made them about 1803. There are seven works of art in the churches of the county which came from the workshop of J. Szentpéteri, the last representative of European fame of the goldsmith's art in Hungary. He was born in 1789 at Rimaszombat and obtained his certificate in 1810. The earliest of his works in the county under review are a censer and an incense boat now in the custody of the Roman Catholic church at Kiskundorozsma ; made in 1821, these pieces of elegant design represent the Empire style. Besides a sacramental plate from 1822, recorded in the literature, there are three identically shaped chalices of a smoothly traced design from 1822 in the Protestant church at Makó which were made by the master. A chalice with embossed vine-leaf and racemose ornaments, the property of the Protestant church at Szentes, reveals Szentpéteri's late penchant for the Baroque style. A silver Calvary cross in the Roman Catholic church at Hódmezővásárhely bears the initials C. S. and is the work of an unknown 296