Stove tile - Prophet Isaiah

The front of the stove tile shows the figure of the 8th century BC Jewish prophet Isaiah, who, according to tradition, was the author of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. This is represented by the scroll in his hand, while the peaked hat points to the prophet’s Jewish origins. (European laws required members of the Jewish community to wear “Jewish hats” with points from the thirteenth century.) His upward gaze highlights his holy calling: the aristocratic Isaiah began to spread the word of God in Jerusalem after a holy revelation.

The stove tile was discovered in 1907 when the Ébner house on the main square of Besztercebánya was remodeled, when the vaults of the upper rooms were removed, along with a few similar stove tiles with figural decorations, genre scenes, saints, and prophets. Of the tiles found, 22 made their way into the collections of the Museum of Applied Arts, while a few others remained in the collection of the Ébner family.

The stove tiles of the local Besztercebánya workshops from the end of the fifteenth century are all the same size and lead green technique were once part of a tiled stove. The stove was first reconstructed by Kornél Divald in 1908 (see his article in Múzeumi és Könyvtári Értesítő, 1908/2-3. - see here).

For a more recent reconstruction and a study of its iconographic program see Emese Mezei’s article from 2013 (see here, fig. 12).