Chalice

The relief surface of the sexfoil base of this chalice is embossed. Three children (angels) kneel amongst acanthus leaves with three oval enamel paintings inserted separately amongst them framed by leaves. Hanging acanthus leaves decorate the tapered cylindrical stem-like section of the upper base under the collar. Its node is in the form of a vase with three gilded cartouches in scrollwork frames, upon which there is an engraved inscription, “BOGYO / IVLIANA // CSINAL/TaTa // 1699 / ESZT” (“Ivliana Bogyo had this made 1699”). The calix is adorned with putti amongst the openwork, embossed acanthuses as well as three enamel paintings placed similarly to those on the base. At its top, there is a wreath of leaves in relief with acanthus leaf crenellation. The bowl of the cup is gilded in contrast to the calix, and its lip flares slightly outward. The master’s mark (HAS) struck into the edge of the base can be clearly seen, while the second stamp is hard to read.

Images of Saint Anthony of Padua with the baby Jesus, the Maria gravida statue from the Bavarian town of Bogenberg, and the Mariazell statue of the Blessed Virgin are depicted in the enamel paintings on the calix. The Bogenberg statue appears again amongst the enamel paintings of the base. The second can be easily identified as the Pieta-type statue from the Maria Taferl shrine in Lower Austria due to the oak foliage in the background, and the third may depict the Gothic statue of Maria dressed in Baroque clothing from the pilgrimage site of Scharten in Upper Austria.

The donor of the chalice was Julianna Bogyó, the wife of Imre Parraghy, the sheriff of Zala County (for more on her, see: Benda Gyula: Egy Zala megyei köznemesi gazdaság és család a XVIII. század közepén: Parraghy László hagyatéka [An Estate and Family of the Gentry in Zala County in the Middle of the 18th Century: the Bequest of László Parraghy]. Agrártörténeti szemle, 26 (1984), 1–84: 44). It is not yet known which church was the intended recipient of the chalice, but perhaps the original owner was one of the Franciscan monasteries in Zala County.

The HAS master’s mark on the foot of the chalice has not been identified. In this period, a Hans Adam Somser (János Ádám Sompter/Szumpter) is known to have been active in Győr. He was a member of the guild of gold and silversmiths between 1691 and 1700, and was even the guildmaster starting in 1698 (cf. N. Mészáros Júlia: Győri ötvösség 1523–1700 [Gold and Silver Smithing in Győr 1523-1700]. Győr, 1998, 181.). No other works or marks of his are known, so the identification remains just a hypothesis.

The idea has arisen in the literature that the enamel paintings may come from different periods, but they do seem to be the products of one workshop. Similar types of enamel paintings that also depict holy images decorate one of the chalices dated to 1700 at the Saint Bartholomew (Szent Bertalan) church in Gyöngyös as well (cf. Dercsényi Dezső – Voit Pál szerk.: Heves Megye műemlékei III [Monuments of Heves County III]. Budapest, 1978, 90, 94, 73. kép). The makers of the two chalices may not necessarily be the same, but the person who painted the enamels is, which could suggest that the smiths may have obtained the enamel paintings from other workshops.

by Szilveszter Terdik