Mikó Árpád szerk.: Reneissance year 2008 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/1)

GABRIELLA BALLA: The Dowry of Beatrice. The Art of Italian Majolica and the Court ot King Matthias Corvinus

Vase, Faeiiza, end of the 15th century Faenza, Museo Internazionale dclle Ceramiche of Deruta, Faenza, Florence, Montelupo, Pesaro and Siena. (The items on display have been selected from the collections of the Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts, the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza and the Musei Civici in Pesaro.) Hungarian Renaissance Majolica Finds The next section of the exhibition features archaeological finds from Hungary. The artistic Majolica pieces so prized in the court, the glossy painted vessels with their characteristic colour schemes - plates, bowls, ewers, jugs, apothecary vessels (albarellos, syrup ewers), flasks, inkwells and tiles — have mostly been found only in fragments. They appear here as to the archaeologist, small, often tiny but finely-painted fragments that nonetheless convey the magnificent standard of the ware imported from Italy. Beside the fragments are complete pieces lent by the museums of Faenza and Pesaro, and one particularly magnificent and important piece from a private collection in Pesaro. They give an impression of the artistic value of the finds in Buda, Kőszeg, Vác, Visegrád, Ozora, Pécsvárad, Pécs and Bajcsa. Archaeology has also found that the Italian potters set up a studio in Buda, and a large number of its products — mainly tiles and other architectural ceramics — have survived. Many of the floor tiles were painted with the emblems of King Matthias and the House of Aragon, such as the well, the hourglass, the "diamond mountain" and the open book, and some have the raven holding a ring in its beak, the heraldic animal of the Hunyadis. Italian royal courts also used floor tiles bearing in the artistic display of royal power. A highly significant archaeological finding is that Majolica fragments have also turned up m archaeological excavations in lesser locations in Hungary, outside the capital. This means that Renaissance luxury ceramics were not confined to the royal court. They spread throughout the country during the Jagiello Era at the latest. Vác may have been a key centre: a wide range of decorated Majolica floor tiles (some with the emblems of Matthias and Beatrice) have been found in the seat of the Humanist-educated Bishop Miklós Báthory. Majolica tile, Buda. 1480-149(1 Budapest, Budapesti Történeti Múzeum Remains of the Royal Ceramics Of greater significance than the fragmentary finds from excavations, however, is the set of three large and one small decorative bowls, which survives in great museums of the world. The Corvin Bowls, painted with the arms of Matthias Hunyadi and Beatrice of Aragon, and lavishly decorated with scales, ribbons and geometric motifs, 2S