DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Średniowieczny skarbiec ko¬ścioła klasztornego w Trzemesznie
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71009#0708
692
Grażyna Regulska
taken by the personifications of the eight Blessings
of Christ's Sermon on the Mount within rich
architectural framings and with an inscription
explaining that everyone who wishes to achieve the
supreme joy of Heaven should follow virtues and
have affection for them. The upper part of the foot
features personifications of four Cardinal Virtues in
a much more modest architectural framing, while on
the node there are personifications of four Rivers of
Paradise in oval medallions of foliage scroll and in
the bottom part of the deep cup - symbols of four
Evangelists with an inscription explaining that these
four praise the great deeds of Christ with one voice.
The upper part of the cup is decorated with six
scenes from the Old and New Testament: Moses and
the Burning Bush and Annunciation, Moses with
Aaron's rod budding and the Nativity, the Baptism
of Jesus and the Last Supper, with the inscription
explaining that they are sings of the dignity of Virgin
Mary, while Christ is washed with the water of the
Jordan River to wash away our sins.
The circular recess in the middle of the paten is
filled with the scene of the Crucifixion and
personifications of the victorious Ecclesia and the
defeated Synagogue, the Sun and the Moon with the
inscription explaining that life triumphs over death,
while Christ, who is mere sweetness, drinks vinegar,
and that not a man but a powerless worm defeats the
armed. The border features nine Old Testament
scenes anticipating Jesus' death on the cross and the
institution of the Eucharist: Abraham's sacrifice,
Melchizedek offering bread and wine, Jacob's
Dream, Moses with the copper serpent, Moses'
miracle in the desert, Joshua and Caleb returning from
Canaan, miracle with Gideon's fleece, Gideon's
sacrifice, and Elijahs' first miracle on behalf of the
widow in Zarephtath, together with the inscription
explaining that the scriptures of both Testaments
proclaim what the figures signified, in the fulfilled
signs they reveal the brightness of God's tree, and
those who preceded Jesus, are His harbingers.
In earlier literature the nielloed chalice of Trze-
meszno and its paten were most often attributed to
one of the goldsmithery workshops in Meuse Valley
or Lower Saxony from within the circle of the artistic
patronage of Duke Henry the Lion, and associated
with a similarly decorated chalice and paten from
the Wilten Norbertine Abbey on the outskirts of
Innsbruck (Figs. 15-17) dated to ca 1180-1190. Piotr
Skubiszewski demonstrated, however, that such a
refined, and at the same time thoughtfully composed
iconographic programme which can be found in the
Wilten monuments and the Trzemeszno chalice and
paten could not have been created without a
theological or exegetical reflection conducted first
of all at the Prufening Benedictine Abbey near
Regensburg. Of particular importance for the artists
of those meaningful decorations must have been the
anonymous treatise Dialogus de laudibus sanctae
Crucis from ca 1170-1180 and its cycle of full-page
typological miniatures which presented the history
told in the Old Testament as a coherent uninterrupted
sequence of events leading to the most important
moment in the history of mankind, namely the
Crucifixion.
According to Piotr Skubiszewski, it is from the
same southern German monastic centre that the
author of the programme concept of the other
Trzemeszno piece must have come from. The se-
cond of the mass chalices, previously called as that
of Dąbrówka's, is also a silver and partially gilded
vessel, though slightly smaller and for some un-
identified reasons missing a paten. Its decoration is
almost entirely composed of repousse figura!
presentations as well as majuscule niello filled
explanatory inscriptions (Figs. 18-22). In this case,
the programme contains twelve carefully selected
and composed Old Testament episodes from the
Book of Samuel and that of Kings. The circular foot
features the following: Samuel is offered to God and
Samuel bids farewell to Saul, Samuel anoints young
David and David fights Goliath, Mickal helps David
to escape and David receives shew-bread from
Ahimelech. The deep cup is decorated with the
following: Joab gives David the Ammonite crown
and David proclaims Solomon king, Elijah raises the
son of the widow of Zarephtath and Elijah ascends
to Heaven in a chariot of fire, Elisha clears the
Jericho spring with salt and Elisha recovers the axe
from the Jordan; all these together with the
inscription explaining that both the anointment of
the kings of Israel and the mystic actions of the
prophets of the Old Testament, to all those, who
through baptism have put on Christ, are the signs of
Salvation.
On the flattened node of the chalices framed with
two astragal lines there is a vine runner with large
nielloed fruit clusters symbolizing the Saviour's
Blood, while Piotr Skubiszewski suspected the
circular recess of its lost paten to have featured the
Crucifixion scene. The whole was meant to display
an equal contribution of the Old Testament kings and
prophets to preparing the redemptive Sacrifice of
the New Testament, and proves that the author of the
iconographic programme was keen on the idea of the
balance between the secular power and the moral
authority of priesthood proclaimed in the 2nd half of
the 12th century by monastic Church reformers,
mainly, however, Canons Regular headed by Hugh
of St Victor and Gerhoch of Reichersberg.
The earliest, and at the same time the only
Trzemeszno piece of Gothic and Late Gothic
Grażyna Regulska
taken by the personifications of the eight Blessings
of Christ's Sermon on the Mount within rich
architectural framings and with an inscription
explaining that everyone who wishes to achieve the
supreme joy of Heaven should follow virtues and
have affection for them. The upper part of the foot
features personifications of four Cardinal Virtues in
a much more modest architectural framing, while on
the node there are personifications of four Rivers of
Paradise in oval medallions of foliage scroll and in
the bottom part of the deep cup - symbols of four
Evangelists with an inscription explaining that these
four praise the great deeds of Christ with one voice.
The upper part of the cup is decorated with six
scenes from the Old and New Testament: Moses and
the Burning Bush and Annunciation, Moses with
Aaron's rod budding and the Nativity, the Baptism
of Jesus and the Last Supper, with the inscription
explaining that they are sings of the dignity of Virgin
Mary, while Christ is washed with the water of the
Jordan River to wash away our sins.
The circular recess in the middle of the paten is
filled with the scene of the Crucifixion and
personifications of the victorious Ecclesia and the
defeated Synagogue, the Sun and the Moon with the
inscription explaining that life triumphs over death,
while Christ, who is mere sweetness, drinks vinegar,
and that not a man but a powerless worm defeats the
armed. The border features nine Old Testament
scenes anticipating Jesus' death on the cross and the
institution of the Eucharist: Abraham's sacrifice,
Melchizedek offering bread and wine, Jacob's
Dream, Moses with the copper serpent, Moses'
miracle in the desert, Joshua and Caleb returning from
Canaan, miracle with Gideon's fleece, Gideon's
sacrifice, and Elijahs' first miracle on behalf of the
widow in Zarephtath, together with the inscription
explaining that the scriptures of both Testaments
proclaim what the figures signified, in the fulfilled
signs they reveal the brightness of God's tree, and
those who preceded Jesus, are His harbingers.
In earlier literature the nielloed chalice of Trze-
meszno and its paten were most often attributed to
one of the goldsmithery workshops in Meuse Valley
or Lower Saxony from within the circle of the artistic
patronage of Duke Henry the Lion, and associated
with a similarly decorated chalice and paten from
the Wilten Norbertine Abbey on the outskirts of
Innsbruck (Figs. 15-17) dated to ca 1180-1190. Piotr
Skubiszewski demonstrated, however, that such a
refined, and at the same time thoughtfully composed
iconographic programme which can be found in the
Wilten monuments and the Trzemeszno chalice and
paten could not have been created without a
theological or exegetical reflection conducted first
of all at the Prufening Benedictine Abbey near
Regensburg. Of particular importance for the artists
of those meaningful decorations must have been the
anonymous treatise Dialogus de laudibus sanctae
Crucis from ca 1170-1180 and its cycle of full-page
typological miniatures which presented the history
told in the Old Testament as a coherent uninterrupted
sequence of events leading to the most important
moment in the history of mankind, namely the
Crucifixion.
According to Piotr Skubiszewski, it is from the
same southern German monastic centre that the
author of the programme concept of the other
Trzemeszno piece must have come from. The se-
cond of the mass chalices, previously called as that
of Dąbrówka's, is also a silver and partially gilded
vessel, though slightly smaller and for some un-
identified reasons missing a paten. Its decoration is
almost entirely composed of repousse figura!
presentations as well as majuscule niello filled
explanatory inscriptions (Figs. 18-22). In this case,
the programme contains twelve carefully selected
and composed Old Testament episodes from the
Book of Samuel and that of Kings. The circular foot
features the following: Samuel is offered to God and
Samuel bids farewell to Saul, Samuel anoints young
David and David fights Goliath, Mickal helps David
to escape and David receives shew-bread from
Ahimelech. The deep cup is decorated with the
following: Joab gives David the Ammonite crown
and David proclaims Solomon king, Elijah raises the
son of the widow of Zarephtath and Elijah ascends
to Heaven in a chariot of fire, Elisha clears the
Jericho spring with salt and Elisha recovers the axe
from the Jordan; all these together with the
inscription explaining that both the anointment of
the kings of Israel and the mystic actions of the
prophets of the Old Testament, to all those, who
through baptism have put on Christ, are the signs of
Salvation.
On the flattened node of the chalices framed with
two astragal lines there is a vine runner with large
nielloed fruit clusters symbolizing the Saviour's
Blood, while Piotr Skubiszewski suspected the
circular recess of its lost paten to have featured the
Crucifixion scene. The whole was meant to display
an equal contribution of the Old Testament kings and
prophets to preparing the redemptive Sacrifice of
the New Testament, and proves that the author of the
iconographic programme was keen on the idea of the
balance between the secular power and the moral
authority of priesthood proclaimed in the 2nd half of
the 12th century by monastic Church reformers,
mainly, however, Canons Regular headed by Hugh
of St Victor and Gerhoch of Reichersberg.
The earliest, and at the same time the only
Trzemeszno piece of Gothic and Late Gothic