Chalice

This work was assembled from several sections, and only the bowl of the cup set in the dynamically broadening, scaled calix of is made of silver. The further elements (the stem piece and the base) that fit onto the cylindrical screw shaft that has been soldered on are made of copper, as is the coin (worn to the extent that it is unidentifiable) that serves as a washer at the end of the screw shaft.

The sexfoil base with points protruding between the lobes is surrounded on its edge by a foot plate above which there is an openwork strip. Forms in the shape of the letter M crowned by crosses and twisting floral scrolls alternate in fields with an embossed background. These sections are defined by the edges that run up to the hexagonal stem piece. There are six round studs (rotuli) around the flattened spherical (apple-shaped) node, which is set between two plain, hexagonal stem rings. There are medallions with niello inlay decoration inside these. They depict the Lamb of God, two half-length portraits of both a holy priest (?) and a martyred saint (possibly St. Vitus), Mary with the baby Jesus, the veil of St. Veronica, and the resurrection of Jesus.

The inscriptionon “MIS•FRANC•SALSA•ARCIPRETI•DE•SAN•VID[o]•FECIT•1491•” on the silver-colored hexagonal ring below the stem provides the basis for a more precise identification of the chalice. Based on this inscription, the work may have been made in Italy for the head of the local chapter house, the archpresbyter Franc[iscus ?] Salsa (?).

San Vito (Saint Vitus) was an early Christian martyr who lived in the 4th century and was martyred in 303. He was very popular in Italy, particularly in the south since he was from Sicily, and he became this island’s patron saint. However, towns named after him can be found in many places, from Liguria to Veneto and throughout Europe, so he is widely venerated in Hungary as well. Due to this, a more precise determination of where this chalice was made is not presently possible.

However, we have come closer to identifying its former owner. The chalice had been classified as a so-called storehouse item in the museum’s collection, and received an inventory number in 1953. It was included as one of our few early chalices in the Gothic Exhibition organized in 1974, the first in the Museum of Applied Arts’ series of exhibitions on stylistic history. However, it had also already appeared in 1930, in the Museum of Applied Arts’ exhibition displaying ancient relics of ecclesiastical art. Despite minor differences, the imagery on it can be determined to be the same as that on the chalice that was labeled as northern Italian (Friuli school), which appeared in the show as a piece from the collection of the noted furniture designer Ödön Faragó (For more on this collection, see: HORVÁTH Hilda: Faragó Ödön, a „zalai láma” iparművészeti gyűjteménye [Applied Arts Collection of the “Zala Lama,” Ödön Faragó]. Zalai Múzeum 21, 2013, 227-242.).

His esteemed collection of almost 1,500 pieces at the time was put up for sale at the Ernst Auction after the artist’s death in 1935. It later made its way to the Museum’s collection indirectly from there, perhaps through another collector.

by Ildikó Pandur