Studia Waweliana (11/12.2002-2003)

SOME REMARKS ON THE DATING OF QUEEN HEDVIGE’S “SCYPHUS” IN THE DRESDEN
COLLECTIONS (IN CONNECTION WITH THE EXHIBITION “WAWEL 1000-2000”)

S u m m ary

One of the most precious examples of goldsmitlTs art on display
in 2000 in Cracow at the exhibition “Wawel 1000-2000. Artistic
Culture of the Royal Court and the Cathedral” was a vessel of rock
crystal set in silver-gilt, which belongs to the collections of the
Grtines Gewolbe in Dresden. The vessel, called scyphus, is linked
with the Polish ąueen Hedvige of Anjou (1373/1374-1399). In the
present paper a critical view is taken of one aspect - the dating of
the object accepted in the literaturę - this aspect being considered
important also on account of researches on Cracow Gothic
goldsmitlTs art.

The dating of the silver setting of the vessel was determined by
historical considerations. On the basis of analysis of the inscription
the object was regarded as a votive offering which the ąueen had
intended to make in connection with the expected birth of her child.
Owing to the sudden death of Hedvige, the setting of the vessel would
have been completed as late as the beginning of the 15* century. The
parts of the mount that are decorated with an engraved vine (among
others, the foot and handle) are thought to originate from before 1399.
The cover, decorated in a different manner and probably left
unfinished, is considered to be of a later datę. In the catalogue of the
exhibition of 2000 a number of examples of Rhenish goldsmitlTs art
are indicated which were executed in the last ąuarter of the 14* century
and which, according to the authors of the catalogue, bear a vine of
the same stylistic character (a monstrance in Essen, an ostensory at
Gerresheim, a ciborium at Rees). The setting of Queen Hedvige’s
vessel is believed to have been wrought in Cracow.

The present author carried out a close comparative analysis of
the omaments on the “scyphus” and on the indicated objects. In his
opinion the decoration on the Dresden vessel is stylistically much
morę advanced than on the above-mentioned Rhenish items. He
also surveyed the gold products of the late 14* and first half of 15*
centuries from Central Europę and above all from Poland (in
Cracow: the mount of the picture of Our Lady in the Corpus Christi
Church, a pax in St Mary's (Mariacki) Church, the reliąuary for the
head of St Florian in the Wawel cathedral, the reliąuary of Chrisfs
Blood in the Dominican monastery, a reliąuary cross in the Church
of St Adalbert: outside Cracow: a reliąuary cross at Ryszewko in
Great Poland (Wielkopolska). Analysis of these objects de-
monstrates that the characteristic features of the ornament on the
“scyphus” did not appear until after 1400, and for Polish (Cracow)
goldsmitlTs art generally in the first ąuarter of the 15* century. and
rather towards the end of that period. In this connection, the author
puts forward the thesis that the parts of the “scyphus” which are
decorated with the ornament under analysis were wrought only after
the death of Queen Hedvige in 1399. He proposes a different
chronology of execution of the mount. considering some elements,
of inferior finish (including the cover), to datę from the time of the
ąueen and to have been supplemented with successive elements in
the first ąuarter of the 15* century. Such a new division and dating
of the setting of Queen Hedvige’s “scyphus” is an important
contribution to the picture of Cracow goldsmitlTs art in the first
half of the 15* century.