Chalice

This chalice has a sexfoil foot with a horizontal rim, atop which sits an openwork, vertical strip with floral decoration. The lower part of the base is adorned with paired repoussé acanthus leaves, and the next section rises in a hexagonal pyramid shape topped by a lacy ring. The stem of the chalice is comprised of two hexagonal elements with chased square rosettes. The node in the middle of the stem is in the shape of a flattened orb decorated with leaves and six protruding diamond-shaped elements. In these, there are chased inlay decorations with differing motifs filled with black enamel. On one there is a square rosette, another has a Gothic letter M, and the third perhaps has the IHS monogram, while the other two surviving sides cannot be identified and the last has been lost. The cup is made of gilded silver and there is evidence of a repair from an indeterminable time in the section near the stem.

There is a master’s mark “L. B.” on the interior side of the base and perhaps an extremely worn crown feature characteristic of the Brassó (Braşov, Romania) hallmark above the monogram. It has not yet been possible to identify the craftsperson. An engraved inscription runs around the interior side of the base, “KÉSZÍTETTE ST. P. 1634” (“MADE ST. P. 1634”). A Latin cross composed of wedge-shaped bars was also engraved in the middle of the date. Based on the inscription, the item is from either Transylvania or Hungary, or at least it seems clearly to have been used there. The letters “ST” may be an abbreviation of the name Stephanus, and may refer to the donor. The best parallels for the rings on the stem and the node can be found amongst 15th century chalices (cf. H. Kolba Judit: Liturgische Goldschmiedearbeiten im Ungarischen Nationalmuseum 14.–17. Jahrhundert. Budapest, 2004, 33–37, Abb. 13–33.), which also indicates that these three elements may come from an earlier chalice and were re-used in 1634. It is not known where this piece is from.

by Szilveszter Terdik