Love, wedding, marriage. Decorative Glass from the Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts

“Mighty love’s consuming fire

Has most deeply scorched my soul.

Cooling balm for hot desire,

Gracious tulip, make me whole.

Fire-sparkles are in your eyes,

Your dewy lips are so sweet.

As the clouds escape at sunrise,

Dispel cares of my heart’s beat.

Angel, answer to my request

Words that will my longing still.

I will repay as a bequest

Thousand kisses at your will.”

(Mihály Csokonai Vitéz: Shy Request [Tartózkodó kérelem], trans. Ina Roberts)

Owing to its fragility, glass is commonly associated with transience, yet many a glass object in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest commemorates marriages made hundreds of years ago.

Love marriage, which is based on the personal attraction of a couple, is an achievement of the modern age. While it was not unheard of prior to the 20th century, most marriages were based on economic and dynastic needs.

On a glass painting (inv. no. 13717.) from the early 17th century, made in what is now Switzerland, are two coats of arms, which was a way of representing the union by marriage of two prominent families that were each a socially respected part of the nobility. The centre of the composition is taken up by the coats of arms, while the upper corners feature hunting scenes, and the lower depict putti with instruments—scenes that can be seen to show forms of entertainment available for the high classes, and hence refer to the pleasures of life. In an oval field below the coats of arms, an inscription reveals the commissioners of the glass painting: “Joachim Zollikoffer von und zu Alttenklingen und Katharina Zollikofferin ain geborne Seutter von Kempten – 1599.” Joachim Zollikoffer (1547–1631) was a burgher and wealthy merchant of Sankt Gallen, who was elected mayor of the town in 1613. He married Kathrina Seuter (1554–1629) in 1572.

The earliest Hungarian artwork in our collection to be associated with a couple was made in the late 17th century. Mihály Mikes (1667–1721) and Druzsina Bethlen (1673–1724) got married in 1692 (or, according to other sources, in 1693) in the Franciscan church of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). Their union was commemorated by a particularly finely crafted glass bottle (inv. no. 3282.a–b.), whose front features the crucified Christ, and its back the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), each in a baroque cartouche, while the narrower sides bear grapevines. The gilded silver screw cap bears two coats of arms and circular inscriptions, “Mikes Mihal 1693” and “Betlen Drusian,” respectively.

There is a pair of quadratic prism-shaped case bottles with glass screw caps in the Museum’s collection which are the pendants of each other. The front of each bottle has a coat of arms, with the owner’s initials above it, and the date, 1695, underneath. The bottle with the inventory number 2812.a–b. bears a coat of arms with a serpent that belonged to the Bethlens de Bethlen, flanked by the initials C and B. Its pendant (inv. no. 2827.a–c.) carries the Bánffys’ coat of arms and the initials G and B.

Klára Bethlen de Bethlen (1662–1706) was the daughter of Gergely Bethlen (1641–1697), Captain General of Transylvania and Mária Thoroczkay. She was married to György Bánffy (1661–1708), the first governor (gubernator) of Transylvania on 17 July 1681. Latin being the language of writing at the time, “CB” stands for the Latinized name of Klára (Clara Bethlen), and “GB” for that of György (Georgius) Bethlen.

It is uncertain what 1695 event was celebrated by the matching bottles. What is beyond doubt is that the same year saw the marriage, on 15 June, of Klára’s sister, Katalin Bethlen (?–1725) and Mihály Apafi II (1676–1713), Prince of Transylvania. It is possible that this pair of case bottles in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts celebrated that princely wedding, which was attended by the entire Transylvanian aristocracy.

The bottle with a stopper and a glass—the latter of which can be handily turned on the bottle for compact storage (inv. nr. 53.192.1.1-3.)—was made in the first half of the 19th century and was meant for everyday use, including placement on the bedside table for the quenching of thirst during the night. The front of the bottle, which is richly gilded with vines and leaves, bears an achievement with a crown for a crest and two coats of arms, which motif also appears on the bottom of the glass. The set was probably made for Count Petar Pejačević of Virovitica (1804–1887)—imperial and royal chamberlain, lord-lieutenant (főispán) of various counties and minister for Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia—and his wife, Countess Franciska Esterházy; the two married on 16 August 1824.

And now, after the objects meant for everyday use, let us consider a piece with a special function, for a distinctive occasion: a so-called bridal cup (inv. no. 53.681.1.). It is in the form of a woman in an ornate dress, holding a small vessel above her head. The connection of the vessel, a small glass, to the figure is hinged, so it can be tilted. The skirt of the female figure also functions as a glass. Thanks to its design, the newlyweds could drink from it at the same time during the wedding feast: the bride from the smaller cup that could be rotated between the figure’s arms, and the groom from the larger one.

 If today the market follows customers’ taste and demands, this was no different in the past. Coats of arms, which authenticated and represented the aristocracy as the ruling class, usually appeared on the objects of the nobility. The utilitarian and decorative objects that were made for the bourgeoisie featured other symbols.

Glasses produced in the Viennese workshop of Anton Kothgasser (1769–1851), which were decorated with transparent enamel paint, were prized by an art-loving, refined clientele, and were kept in the display cases of drawing rooms where guests were also received.

Kothgasser studied porcelain and glass painting from 1781, at the Wiener Kunstakademie (Vienna Academy of Arts). From 1784 to 1840, he was employed at the Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur as a porcelain painter, and from 1811, he also decorated glassware. A distinctive type of vessel that is recurrent in Kothgasser’s oeuvre is the Ranftbecher. Its broad, thick foot is cut so that it resembles a cogwheel, and has a star cut into its bottom; the body is flared towards the top.

There is an inscription, “L’amour et la Fidelité” (Love and Fidelity) and a symbolic scene on this glass (inv. no. 80.575.1.): the interlaced hands carved into the stone plinth, the hearts aflame on top of it and the doves billing and cooing in the foreground represent love, the dog stands for fidelity, and the rock in the background is an emblem of steadfastness. There is an engraved inscription on the other side, “B. Perényi Juliánna 1820.” which identifies the recipient of the glass and the year it was gifted to her. Juliánna was the sister of Baron Zsigmond Perényi, who was the opposition Speaker of the House of Magnates from October 1848, and was actively involved in the Committee for National Defence, for which he was tried and executed in the aftermath of the crushed War of Independence, on 24 October 1849.

The interpretation of complex symbols and allegories required the kind of education that was available to the bourgeoisie. Some of the symbols, on the other hand, were simple and accessible for all: these included doves sitting on a heart or cooing, a pair of birds holding a laurel wreath or rings in their beaks, hearts pierced with arrows or interlaced hands.

The goblet with the inventory number 57.787.1. presents a message that suggests friends or lovers taking leave of each other, and does so with a witty mixture of script and images:

“[Be]

Happy

Is what I wish

and [forget-me-not].”

A group of the objects, in their turn, are marked by “straightforward communication,” with no message or hidden meaning expressed with symbols. Some of the glass articles present genre scenes whose meaning has no figurative component: the glass with the inventory number 69.76.1. shows a couple who grow old together; other objects depict a lady walking in a garden set in a rococo frame, in the company of a gentleman paying court to her; lovers embracing in a bucolic setting; Eros taking aim at unsuspecting victims or just being there to prove “there is something in the air.”

by Ildikó Kálosi

References:

Vera Varga, Régi magyar üveg [Old Hungarian Glass], (Budapest: Képzőművészeti Alap Kiadóvállalata, 1989).

Márta Péter (ed.), Barokk és rokokó. Az európai iparművészet stíluskorszakai [Baroque and Rococo. Stylistic Periods in European Applied Arts]. Kiállítás az Iparművészeti Múzeum gyűjteményéből. Szöveg- és képkötet [Exhibition from the Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts. Texts and Images], (Budapest: Iparművészeti Múzeum, 1990).

Márta Péter (ed.), A klasszicizmustól a biedermeierig. Az európai iparművészet stíluskorszakai [From Neo-Classicism to Biedermeier. Stylistic Periods in European Applied Arts]. Kiállítás az Iparművészeti Múzeum gyűjteményéből. Szöveg- és képkötet [Exhibition from the Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts. Texts and Images], (Budapest: Iparművészeti Múzeum, 1990).

Dr. Edit Tamás (ed.), A Bethlenek – A fejedelem diplomatájától a XX. századi egyetemi tanárig [The Bethlens – From the Prince’s Diplomat to the 20th-century Professor], (Sárospatak: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Rákóczi Múzeuma, 2010).