Folia Historiae Artium Seria Nowa, t. 1 (1995)

ISBN 83-86956-05-4 ISSN 0071-6723

RECENZJE

DARIUSZ NOWACKI , ,

T H E MUNICH EXHIBITION OF AUGSBURG GOLDSMITHS ART

T h e exhibit ion "S i lbe r und G o l d . Augsburger Goldschmiedekunst fur die Hofe Europas" , arranged at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum i n M u n i c h and open to visitors from 23rd February unt i l 19th June, was unquestionably one of the greatest museum events of 1994. T h e idea of such an extensive presentation of court gold- and silver­ware wrought i n the most important and best studied European centre of goldsmithery of the modern era was conceived in 1987. A few significant occurrences of the last ten years or so were largely responsible for its materialization; these were the acquisition for the Bayerisches Nat ionalmuseum of 133 pieces of the Hildesheimer Tafelservice (1981) and of the collections of the Princes von T h u r n und Taxis (1993), and above all the setting up i n M u n i c h of the archives of Augsburg goldsmithery, the nucleus of which is formed by the scientific output of He lmut Seling, an outstanding investigator of this problem, made over to the Bayerisches M u ­seum.

Several hundred gold- and silversmith's p rod­ucts dating from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, which were borrowed from more than 30 European collections, displayed i n 15 rooms and described i n an imposing two-volume catalogue prepared by an international team of art historians and edited by Lorenz Seelig — the main author of the exhibit ion ^ — contributed to the event which is sure to be one of turning points i n the studies on modern European goldsmithing. A scientific session

corresponding wi th the subject of the exhibit ion was held early i n M a y , its opening coinciding wi th the publication of the long-awaited supplement to the th i rd volume of He lmu t Seling's monumental study 2.

A careful choice of exhibits presented i n a dozen or so thematic groups, generally for the first time outside their place of storage — mainly the large group of silverware which the organizers succeeded in borrowing from the museum stores of Moscow and St. Petersburg, so difficult of access, the accumulation in one place of the scattered pieces of one set such as, for instance, the presentation of the Hildesheimer Tafelservice, crowning the ex­hib i t ion , supplemented by 15 painted court scenes and portraits — all this determined the exceptional attractiveness of the display. Especially worth emp­hasizing are the rigorous subordination to the exhibits of the well-balanced exhibit ion design, not interfering wi th the viewer's direct contact wi th them, and the careful preparation of the silverware for display as wel l as generally the felicitous disposition of accents. T h e low price (for reason of promotion) of the editorially attractive catalogue and at the same time an inadequate offer addressed to those who were not professionally interested in goldsmithing (the poor quality of postcards was noticeable) made very many visitors move about wi th the catalogue in hand.

T o an art historian representing the country of manifold connections wi th the Augsburg golds-

' Silber und Gold. Augsburger Goldschmiedekunst fiir die Hofe Europas. Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums, I — II, ed. R. Baumstark and L. Seel ig , Munchen 1994, pp. 613, LXXVI .

^ H. Se l ing , Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529-1868. Supplement zu Band III: Meister, Marken, Beschauzeichen, Munchen 1994 [further on as S e l i n g 1994].

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mith's art and sensitive to Pol ish accents, the exhibit ion was a fascinating experience, the direct examination enabling h i m to revalue numerous opinions regarding not only the silverware now kept i n Poland. Therefore, points of special interest for the present writer were slightly different from those brought out by the authors and organizers of the exhibit ion.

T h e visitor was excellently introduced to the climate of the display in the first room containing the generally admired group of animal figurines and three human figures each supporting a globe (Cat. nos. 1—8, 13 — 15). However , among the contents of two buffets — the silverware borrowed for the most part from the K r e m l i n — one lacked 16th century examples of ewers and basins of the k ind wrought by Abraham I Lot ter , Cornelius E r b , U l r i c h Schon-macher, or Paul Hi ibne r^ . Instead of the wel l -known (inter alia, thanks to the 1968 Augsburg exibition) huge tray by Hans Jakob I Baur (Cat. no. 28), I would gladly have seen an equally interesting set from the same workshop, presented to the czar on 24th October 1648 by the envoys of the Pol ish k ing John Cas imir Vasa" . A m o n g the sumptuous wine jugs the lack of slender-bodied vessels, as i f tankards enlarged to a colossal size, was noticeable. A pair of objects of this type, from the above-mentioned Baur workshop, escaped the organizers' notice; one of these pieces had found its way to the K r e m l i n c o l l e c t i o n s w h i l e the other — once in Prince Janos Palffy's collection — is now the property of the W a w e l Roya l Castle ( i l l . 1 a - b ) * .

^ Idem, Die Kunst der Augsburger Goldschmiede 1529—1868. Meister, Marken, Beschauzeichen, II, Munchen 1980 [further on as S e l i n g 1980], fig. 61-74.

" Inv. no. M3—168, M3-172 — F i l i m o n o v , Opis Mos-kovskoj Oruzejnoj Palaty, II/2, Moskva 1885, pp. 19-20, 66-68, nos. 1196, 1463, pi. 250; The State Armoury of the Moscov Kremlin, Moscow 1958, fig. 325; S e l i n g 1980, I, p. 284; II, fig. 469; III, p. 162, no. 1369 b, c. The ewer and basin bear the engraved coat of arms of their first owner, with the letters CH[ristophorus] R[adziwill] D[ei] G[rafia] D[ux] B[irzen-sis] E[t] D[ubincensis] S[ancti] R[omani] I[mperii] P[rinceps] P[alatinus] W[ilnensis] E[t] M[agni] D[ucatus] L[ithuaniae] D[ux] G[eneralis] M[oscoviticus] A[c] S[ueticus] C[ampiductor] B[ellator].

5 Inv. no. OP 1678 — F i 1 i m o n o v, op. cit., pp. 127-128, no. 1678; The State Armoury..., fig. 332; G. A. M a r k o v a, Deutsche Silberkunst des XVI. —XVIII. Jahrhunderts in der Sammlung der Rilstkammer des Moskauer Kreml, Moskau 1975, no. 37; S e l i n g 1980, III, p. 162, no. 1369 f — defined as a tankard, most probably with the wrongly deciphered hallmark.

* Inv. no. 5728 — Silber, Mobiliar, Bronzen etc. aus dem Nachlass Janos Graf Pdlffy. Versteigerung durch Pollak and Winternitz und Gliickselig and Wdrndorfer in Auktionshaus, 26

T h e description of a very interesting d i sh by Lorenz I Bi l le r , wi th the scene of the apotheosis o f the Emperor Leopo ld as the victor over the T u r k s (Cat. no. 32), might be supplemented w i t h the reference to an oval plaque, now lost, wh ich was signed J. A. Thelot 1686 and which bore the same subject. I n the 19th century the plaque belonged to a private collection^.

One of the exhibits arousing admiration was a monumental Eagle — an important polonicum in the K r e m l i n collection (Cat. no. 36 — i l l . 2). It is to be regretted that Andrzej Fischinger 's article dealing largely wi th this object has been published only in Pol ish*. T h e fact that the organizers were not acquainted wi th it deprived the exhibit ion of one of the most impressive accents — a reconstruc­tion of part of the figural service — and of the conclusive verification of the Pol i sh researcher's theses. Fischinger has convincingly proved that the K r e m l i n Eagle is the centerpiece of the service made about 1666 for the K i n g of Poland John Cas imir Vasa. Since he abdicated in 1668, the service was sold off. It next became the property o f a high-ranking personage, perhaps M i c h a e l K o r y b u t Wisn iowieck i , who reigned from 1669 to 1673, and was finally presented to Czar Alekse i M i k h a i l o v i c h by the Pol ish envoys sent to M o s c o w between December 1671 and A p r i l 1672 ' . T h e figure of the Eagle was wrought by A b r a h a m I Drentwett (d. 1666), while the base, together w i th the remaining pieces of the service, was made by H e i n r i c h M a n n l i c h , who seems to have carried out the commission for his deceased colleague. T h e

Mai 1924, p. 8, no. 20; Collections of the Royal Castle of Wawel, ed. J. Szablowski , 2nd ed., Warszawa 1975, p. 403, fig. 175; Se l ing 1994, p. 32, no. 1369*a* — this and all other works described here as belonging to the Wawel Cathedral treasury are actually kept in the Wawel Royal Castle. The Cathedral collec­tions have not been studied by Seling.

' Katalog zoystawy zabytkow z czasow krola Jana III i jego wieku, Krakow 1883, pp. 210-211, no. 951; M . S o k o l o w s k i , Wystawa zabytkow z czasow Jana III zv Sukiennicach krakowskich w roku 1883, Krakow 1884, p. 58; Zabytki XVII wieku. Wystawa jubileuszowa Jana III w Krakowie 1883, Krakow 1884, p. 20, no. 951, pi. XXXVI.

" A. F i s c h i n g e r , Srebrny orzel w zbiorach Skarbca Ko-ronnego na Wawelu [in:] Curia maior. Studia z dziejdw kultury ofiarowane Andrzejowi Ciechanowieckiemu, Warszawa 1990, pp. 85-90, fig. 46-49.

Ibidem, p. 87. A member of the same mission, Cyprian Pawel Brzostowski, handed a shell-shaped ewer together with a basin bearing the Alexander the Great Meeting Diogenes scene — both wrought by David Bessmann — Inv. no. OP 1209, OP 1473 — F i 1 i m o n o V , op. cit., p. 25, nos. 1209, 1473, pi. 247; The State Armoury..., fig. 324; M a r k o v a , op. cit., no. 63; Se l ing 1980, III, p. 187, no. 1502 b, d.

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1 a —b. Hans Jacob I Baur (Augsburg), Two ewers, c. 1630; a) Cracow, The Wawel Royal Castle (phot. L . Schuster); b) Moscow, The Kremlin Museum (phot. Museum)

pieces were composed so as to turn towards the Eagle-centrepiece, this being corroborated by two preserved works by M a n n l i c h — the Pol i sh Eagle, presenting a sceptre, globe, and sword, wh ich is kept in the collections of the W a w e l Roya l Castle (ill. 3a) and the Swedish L i o n wi th a sceptre, now in the K r e m l i n collection ( i l l . 3 b ) T h e two objects

are characterized by their identical function as vessels wi th an inlet i n the top of the head, the crown used as a stopper, and an outlet through the open beak or mouth, besides similar dimensions and identical bases wi th a pair of oval medallions con­taining allegorical scenes referring to happy rule. T h e two heraldic representations have been treated

Inv. no. 6033 — Court Art of Vasa Dynasty in Poland. Exhibition in the Wawel Castle in Cracow, May-June 1976, Catalogue, Cracow 1976, p. 199, no. 254, pi. IV; S e l i n g 1980, III, p. 210, no. 1613 c; F i s c h i n g e r , loc. cit.

" Inv. no. OP 1927 — F i l i m o n o v , op. cit., p. 188, no. 1927, pi. 308; S e l i n g 1980, I, p. 283; II, fig. 462; III, p. 211, no. 1613 p; F i s c h i n g e r , op. cit., p. 88. The sceptre seen in a 19th century photograph is now broken off". The kings of

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2. Abraham I Drentwett and Heinrich Mannlich (Augsburg), Eagle of Poland, a drinking vessel, c. 1666. Moscow, The Kremlin Museum (phot, from: Silber und Gold...)

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3 a-b. Heinrich Mannlich (Augsburg), Fragments of the table service of King John Casimir Vasa: two drinking vessels — in the shape of the Eagle of Poland and the Lion of Sweden, c. 1666; a) Cracow, The Wawel Royal Castle (phot. Museum); b) Moscow,

The Kremlin Museum (phot. Museum)

rather freely, acquiring the features of expressive Baroque figures.

Yet another figure wrought in Mann l i ch ' s wo­rkshop and today kept at the K r e m l i n ' ^ should be taken into consideration i n attempts at recon­struction of the original appearance of the service. The figure of a knight mount ing a rearing horse and raising a sword is associated wi th the coat of arms of the G r a n d D u c h y of L i thuan ia — Pursui t (Pogoh) — translated into the id iom of Baroque imagery. Especially the bases of the above-mentioned works by M a n n l i c h ought to be com­pared in detail: i n the figure of the knight the base slightly varies from those of the two

accompanying figures, being taller and more slender. T h e fact that it reached M o s c o w as the gift of the K i n g of Sweden i n 1673 or 1674 does not rule out the possibility of its being a piece from John Casimir ' s collection sold off after 1668, unless the stamped hallmark dates from the years 1670—1675, that is, from the time following the king's abd ica t ion" . Therefore, the task of putting the four figures together in one place remains an unrealized research postulate.

It should be added that while there exist references to the custom — widespread in Poland — of ordering services heraldic in fo rm ' " , no sources have been found that would confirm the

Poland of the Vasa dynasty claimed their right to the Swedish throne: John Casimir retained the title of King of Sweden for life.

Inv. no. OP 1912 — F i l i m o n o v , op. cit., p. 180, no. 1912, pi. 310; S e l i n g 1980, I, pp. 295-296; II, fig. 590; III, p. 210, no. 1613 f.

" The numeral 182 engraved on the base of the figure denotes the year 7182 according to the Byzantine calendar, this corresponding to either 1673 or 1674 — see Cat. no. 204, no. 36, note 1.

" F i s c h i n g e r , op. cit., pp. 86, 88-90, fig. 46-47 — among the most interesting realizations are the Eagle executed

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4. Elias I Drentwett (Augsburg), Basin, 1617. Cracow, The Wawel Royal Castle (phot. A. Wierzba)

custom of putting down on the table the crown taken off the Pol ish king's head, as has repeatedly been suggested in connection wi th the disk on the head of the K r e m l i n Eagle.

T h e erudite catalogue entry devoted to the ewer and basin wrought by Elias I Drentwett (Cat. no. 39) might be supplemented by indicating their closest analogy from the same workshop — a basin dating from 1617, likewise decorated wi th represen­tations of water deities, which was once i n the Palffy

in Nuremberg by Heinrich Straub for Krzysztof Radziwill, bearing the identical inscription with that on the ewer and basin at the Kremlin (see note 4) — Galerie Jiirg Stuker, Auktion XXXIX [...]; Sammlung A. Riitschi aus dem Kunsthaus Zurich, Bern 1954, p. 18, no. 58, and 12 tazzas supported by eagles, with portraits of Polish kings, made by Andreas Mackensen I in

collection and today is the pride of the Wawel C r o w n Treasury ( i l l . 4) T h e Wawel piece, not at all inferior to the M u n i c h exhibit, especially in respect of the harmony of composit ion, deserved to be entered in the catalogue i f only as a comparative material. It was an obvious mistake in translating the inscript ion on the exhibit to call the owner of the basin, K a r l von Hapsburg , Bishop of Pressburg, as it reads that he was the bishop of Wroclaw (Breslau) — i n the period 1608-1624 It is worth

Gdansk, probably in 1648 — Court Art..., pp. 198 — 199, nos. 251-252, fig. 89.

" Inv. no. 1374 — Silber, Mobiliar..., p. 24, no. 123; Collections of the Royal Castle..., pp. 402-403, fig. 172; Se l ing 1994, p. 31, no. 1312*a* (wrongly given place of storage).

K. S u p p e 11, Geschichte des Bistums Breslau, Breslau

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ading that after the outbreak of the T h i r t y Years ' W a r (1618) K a r l left Silesia and took refuge at the court of Sigismund I I I Vasa in W a r s a w T h u s we cannot rule out the possibility that the commission was sent to Augsburg through the intermediaries at the service of the Polish royal court; besides, considering the fact that the coat of arms was added to a basin made some years before clearly for secular use, the question of the circumstances in which the bishop became the owner of this vessel gains in importance.

The fifth room, devoted to the Kunstkammer, was among the most impressive. A ewer and basin by Abraham I Pfleger (Cat. no. 50), a ship-shaped cup by Johannes I Lencker (Cat. no. 52), and a tray by Hans I I I Petrus (Cat. no. 53) undeniably rank among the most magnificent products of European gol­dsmithery. F o r a Pol ish viewer particularly interes­ting was a dragon-shaped dr inking horn (Cat. no. 49), once belonging to Ferdinand II 's famous collec­tion in Ambras , as a 19th century copy of the vessel is kept in the Czartoryski M u s e u m i n Cracow'* .

T h e entrance to the room wi th the jewels from the Kunstkammer was preceded by the fountain from the Castle of Rosenborg, while on leaving the room the visitor saw the altar from the castle chapel at H u s u m (Cat. no. 69), testifying to the excellence of its author, Albrecht von H o r n , unquestionably one of the greatest masters of goldsmith's art i n its history. A n y doubts i n this respect are dispelled when we compare two small household altars, hang­ing one opposite the other, which precede the huge case wi th this masterpiece. A n otherwise very interesting work by Matthaus Walbaum (Cat. no. 68) pales i n comparison wi th von Horn ' s relief The Deposition (Cat. no. 70) for all its values resulting from Walbaum's proficiency i n composing small elements on the fit-together principle. It is evident here that without this seeming inconsistence on the part of the authors of the exhibi t ion, who showed a fragment of the court foundations of religious

1929, pp. 66 — 68; P. N i t e c k i , Biskupi kosciola w Pohce. Slownik biograficzny, Warszawa 1992, pp. 76, 271.

" Ibidem. Inv. no. M N K - X I I I - 9 8 . The object was executed

before 1869 — the year of its acquisition for the Museum. The other copy of this drinking-horn which was made in Vienna at the end of the 18th century, published in: Kunsthaus Lempertz — Auktion 702: Alte Kunst, Kunstgewerbe [...], Koln 1994, p. 105, no. 1397.

" J. D. L o b z y r i s k i , Dies Natalis abo panegiryk kosciel-ny..., Krakow 1650 — see J. G o l o n k a , Giovanni Battista Gisleni autorem projektu jasnogorskiego oltarza [in:] jfasnogdrski oltarz Krdlowej Polski. Studium teologiczno-historyczne oraz dokumentacja obiektow zabytkowych i prac konserwatorskich, ed. J. G o l o n k a , Cz?stochowa 1991 (Biblioteka Jasnogor-

objects, the picture of Augsburg goldsmithing wou ld have been reduced for the absence in it of unique creations.

After the works of this class a small annexe containing Sig ismund I I I Vasa's commissions d id not make a good impression, the more so as the figure of St Benoni (Cat. no. 74), unknown i n Pol ish relevant literature, does not rank among master­pieces. T h e ascetic manner of arranging three fig­ures from the altar at Jasna G o r a (Cat. no. 73) brought out, for instance, small anatomical incon­sistences i n the angels' arms; furthermore, there was no photograph (which could at least have been published i n the catalogue) of the present retable or the woodcut published in the year of its conse­c r a t i o n " , nor was there any mention of the dis­covery, dur ing conservation, of traces of the halo round the head of the V i r g i n M a r y ^ " .

T h e author of the entry rightly observes that the scale of the intended altar which was also to include life-size figures, exceeded by far the size of the existing one. Its setting up was planned in 1643 — it was to be adapted to the interior of the chapel enlarged between 1641 and 1644 In view of such a large scale of the altar commissioned by Sigismund I I I , the original place for the figures would rather not have been Cz^stochowa but Cracow or Warsaw. I f after the king's death in 1632 the figures had at Jasna Gora , it is simply incredible that there would not have been any mention of them in the monastic archival material. Therefore, we should take into account not only the intended funerary chapel at the Wawel CathedraF^ but also a number of foundations in Warsaw. T h e artistic initiatives of Sigismund I I I and his court have been poorly investigated; the fact that this problem is barely touched on in the discussed catalogue w i l l surely delay the study of the phenomenon of the settlement on the Vis tula of the artists from A u g ­sburg^' or of the connections with Poland of such goldsmiths as, for instance, Tobias Kramer^*.

skiego Instytutu Mariologicznego no. 1), pp. 263 — 265, fig. 6. 2° Ibidem, p. 283. ^' Ibidem, p. 255. " M . Rozek, Katedra wawelska w XVII wieku, Krakow

1980 (Biblioteka Krakowska no. 121), pp. 138-144. " A trace of this phenomenon is a goldsmith's signature on

the grave plaque of 1632, removed from Sigismund Ill's coffin in the Wawel Cathedral: M I C H E L PROS VON AUGSPURG — Court Art..., p. 164, no. 105.

" S e l i n g 1980, III, p. 148, no. 1277 f; S e l i n g 1994, p. 30, no. 1277*a*, b* (kept in the Royal Castle), c*; and a plaque with The Emperor Constantine's Vision scene, in the treasury of the Paulite monastery at Jasna Gora in Cz?stochowa — J. Samek, J. Z b u d n i e w e k , Klejnoty Jasnej Gory, 2nd ed., Warszawa 1983, p. 101, fig. 72.

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5. Johann Andreas Thelot (Augsburg), Household altar, c. 1720—1725. Cracow, The Wawel Royal Castle (phot. A. Wierzba)

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After the enjoyment of viewing the buffet brought from the Kn igh t ' s H a l l of the Be r l i n castle and the impressive though too formally arranged assembly of silver furniture, the works of Johann Andreas Thelot ' s workshop, filling the tenth room, gave the impression of a series of as it were unfinished designs. There was a discordance between the first, good, impression and the percep­tion of defects in the workmanship of minor parts. The opinions of the high artistic class of this workshop must be slightly exaggerated, especially when we compare, e.g., the level of chasing and the skill in casting wi th the quality of the works of the goldsmiths no more than one generation older.

The direct examination of two most sumptuous works by The lo t (Cat. no. 93 and 97) permits the dispelling of any doubts about the autorship of the unsigned household altar traditionally believed to have belonged to K i n g John H I Sobieski 's family, now kept i n the Wawel Roya l Castle ( i l l . 5)^^. T h e well-balanced architectural composit ion of the Wawel altar is closer to the earlier works from Thelot 's workshop, such as a pair of clocks com­missioned about 1700 for the M u n i c h Residence^*, and to other Augsburg clocks dating from the turn of the 17th century^''. Di rec t affinities l ink it wi th

the altar at the Hermitage, dating from 1719^*, and wi th a slightly smaller retable known from art market^'. T h e plaque wi th a table of ancestors of about 1726-1729 (Cat. no. 97) seems to be the modified upper section of the Wawel altar but inferior to it in respect of compositional merits; worth noting is also the use of identical, diverse materials: tortoiseshell, silver, carnelian, lapis lazuli , mother-of-pearl, ivory, chalcedony, etc. T h e above-adduced analogies permit the more precise dating of the Wawel object between about 1720 and 1725 and defining it as one of more successful products of Thelot ' s workshop.

It is impossible to signalize i n this short discus­sion many other important questions connected wi th the accumulation at the M u n i c h exhibition of such a great number of outstanding works of art. T h i s event w i l l undoubtedly contribute to an i n ­crease in our knowledge of the intensified contacts between the Pol i sh royal court and Augsburg and of scores of interesting gold and silver products which stil l testify to large-scale imports from and the inspir ing role of this centre of goldsmith's art.

(June 1994)

Translated by Krystyna Malcharek

" Inv. no. 5288 — Collections of the Royal Castle..., p. 404, fig. 186; S e l i n g 1994, p. 54, no. 1486*a* (dated too early, with incorrectly given place of storage).

" S e l i n g 1980, I, p. 349; II, figs. 1077-1078; Silber und Gold..., II, pp. 388-392, no. 93.

K. JVl a u r i c e. Die deutsche Rdderuhr. Zur Kunst und Technik des mechanischen Zeitmessers in deutschem Sprachraum, II, Munchen 1976, pp. 87—88, figs. 704-720.

H . P r a e l - H i m m e r , Der Augsburger Goldschmied Jo­hann Andreas Thelot, Munchen 1978, pp. 96, 98-99, no. 130, figs. 116-117.

Christie's South Kensington I Auction no. 45031: Important European Sculpture and Works of Art, London 1991, pp. 22-23, no. 29 — I wish to thank Mr. Donald Johnston for making a photograph of this work available to me.