Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 6. (Budapest, 1963)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: Daghestan Bronze Cauldrons

Fig. 3. Daghestan bronze cauldron from the Ethnographical Museum in Budapest (from the collection of Jenő Zichy) of this century to the 12th and 13th centuries.

11 Beside the dated Armenian specimen mentioned above, the dating of the cauldrons was promoted also by the fact that excavations in Armenia, Daghestan and Georgia yielded several 13th century pottery fragments showing similar ornaments, and in some cases equal, to those of the cauldrons. Thus dating the old cauldrons according to the mentioned considerations may be done with such a degree of exactness that at a given specimen the difference between the datings according to ornamentation and that on the basis of the inscription was only ten years. The data regarding the technique used in producing the cauldrons were collected by Shilling.

12 The ingot mould and the core are made of fine sand, the execution follows a copper model. At the end of the last century unsuccessful casting was averted by adding mineral water to the mass. In earlier times cauldrons were made of bronze only; later these specimens were even more highly appreciated than those of copper. Casting a cauldron with the usual process took about six hours, the fine work of executing the details took another four. Ancient cauldrons, mainly the half-closed, globular ones, were generally decorated with bas-reliefs. Hemispherical, open specimens were less frequently ornamented, their rim decoration is simpler too. Older cauldrons are ornamented with figures: riders, wild animals, birds, hunting scenes. A good example of a cauldron decorated in this manner is the half-closed one, formerly part of the collection of Mór Déchy, the Hungarian geologist and explorer of the Caucasus.

13 On the side of the cauldron we find a relief of armed horsemen and birds, the pattern of the border is a tendril ornament (Fig. 5). Unfortunately the whereabouts of this cauldron is not known at present but, judging by the picture, it might be an ancient specimen dating from the 13th or 14th century. The figurai and floral ornaments of the early cauldrons are closely related to the motifs of the Sasanian period, representing the further development of the latter. Naturally the supposition that these objects or the ornaments applied to them were imported from Iranian soil is not imperative, since we possess several data as to the high standard of the local metallurgy. On the