home  previous exhibitions Hungary's Heritage: Princely Treasures from the Esterházy Collection

Tuesday 26th October 2004 - Sunday 23rd January 2005

The exhibition is supported by the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.

Vessel in the form of a flask, Nuremberg or Hungary c.1475, silver-gilt.

The Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, is lending some 50 works of art from the world-famous Esterházy Treasury. The exhibition is presented by the Hungarian Cultural Centre in collaboration with the Museum of Applied Arts to mark the end of Magyar Magic, a year-long series of events celebrating Hungary’s recent membership of the European Union. The Gilbert Collection was the venue for the launch of Magyar Magic in 2003 with the exhibition A Celebration of Hungarian Gold and Silver.

The Esterházy family rose to prominence during the Turkish wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. Their absolute loyalty to the Habsburgs secured for them a unique position in Austro-Hungarian affairs and the works on view reflect this extraordinary status.

It was the charismatic military leader and astute politician Miklós Esterházy (1583-1645) who founded the Treasury - a visual statement of his family's culture, wealth and power, which by the mid-17th century was kept at the family's castle at Fraknó. His acquisitions included a superb late 15th century Gothic-style silver-gilt flask, an extremely rare surviving example of mediaeval secular silver. A Turkish silver-gilt flag finial captured by him from the Turks in 1623 is also in this exhibition.

Dish with the heroic death of László Esterházy by Philipp Jakob Drentwett, Augsburg, 1654, silver-gilt.

Tragically László, Miklós' elder son, was killed at the Battle of Vezekény in 1652. A vast commemorative silver-gilt dish with a relief showing his heroic death, commissioned by his brother Pál (1635-1713) from Philipp Jacob Drentwett, a leading silversmith in Augsburg, is one of the most striking pieces in the show. Pál’s own marriage to his cousin Orsolya Esterházy was commemorated by the acquisition of the refined gold tazza decorated with their coats of arms in enamels.

Table clock, mid-18th century, silver, enamel, gems.

Miklós József Esterházy (1714-1790), Pál Esterházy's grandson, followed in the family military tradition and became Captain of the Empress Maria-Theresa's Bodyguard, although he is now best remembered for employing Joseph Haydn as his Kapellmeister and court composer for over 30 years. The silver-cased clock with a London-made movement in the exhibition was given to him by the Empress Maria-Theresa on the occasion of her visit to the new Esterházy castle at Fertöd in 1776.

Miklós József Esterházy’s great-grandson Pál Antal Esterházy (1786-1866) continued the family tradition of public service and played a prominent part in the Congress of Vienna which brought the Napoleonic Wars to an end in 1815. He was later Austrian Ambassador to London.

Gold box by John Northam, London, 1828, decorated with miniature of George IV by Henry Bone, gold and enamel.

His British gold box, set with a miniature of George IV, is returning to London for the first time since it was given to him by the king himself. His Order of the Bath and a small selection of gold coins and medals are being lent by the National Museum of Hungary.

No 17th century treasury was complete without a group of pieces made from what were then considered exotic materials and precious stones. The Esterházy Treasury boasted, amongst other pieces, a rosary in coral from the South Seas, a carved ivory tankard and an amethyst cup, all displayed in this exhibition.

Cup and cover wth allegory of Prudence by Hans Petzolt, Nuremberg, c.1580, silver-gilt, mother-of-pearl, precious stones.

It was customary to celebrate visits to cities by royalty and the opening of important diplomatic negotiations with gifts of spectacular pieces of gold and silver as marks of respect. The Esterházy Treasury holds a remarkable group of these commemorative gifts, which have otherwise rarely survived. Some are in the show, including the cup made by the great German goldsmith Hans Petzolt for presentation by the City of Nuremburg to the Elector of Pfalz, Frederick V, the recently elected King of Bohemia. A standing allegorical female figure holding the attributes of good government is accompanied by an inscription outlining the virtues of a good ruler and his obligations to his subjects. The exhibition also includes another piece by Petzolt: a spectacular cup and cover incorporating a mother-of-pearl shell once owned by Frederick V's wife Elizabeth, the daughter of James I and Anne of Denmark - now remembered as the 'Winter Queen' who once lived at Somerset House.

Cup with raven finial - the "Matthias Corvinus Cup", Nuremberg, c.1481, silver-gilt and enamel.

Owners of great treasuries sought to possess objects associated with great historical figures of the past and also royal gifts which underlined the importance and antiquity of the family and linked them to past heroes. The Esterházy Treasury was no exception and had a cup and ring (both in the exhibition) associated with Matthias Corvinus, Hungary's greatest king, whose Renaissance-style court was famous throughout Europe. The spectacular cup with a raven finial - the heraldic bird of the king - was given to him in 1481 by the delegation of the German Imperial Diet (Assembly) from Nuremberg who came to mediate between the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and the Hungarian ruler, whose rivalry was on the verge of breaking into armed conflict.

Imperial gifts underlined the importance of a family in the Empire and its power at court. Predictably the Esterházy had many. In this exhibition there is a fabulous cup and cover given by the mining city of Selmecbánya to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, with a figure of a miner as a finial and incorporating the tools of the trade, and a gold cup given by Ferdinand III to the Chancellor of his court, both of which were given to Pál Esterházy by the next emperor, Leopold I.

Pendant with Cupid shooting an arrow, early-17th century, gold, precious stones, enamel.

As well as the grandest pieces of plate, the Treasury preserves some very personal jewellery: a pair of pendants decorated with clasped hands, probably made to commemorate an engagement; an enchanting pendant of Cupid with his bow and arrow; and rings commemorating family marriages such as the double signet ring commemorating the marriage of István Esterházy and Erzsébet Thurzó in 1638.

At the end of the First World War Fraknó and the Esterházy Castle, where the treasury had been kept since the 17th century, passed to Austria. The Esterházy family placed the major part of the Treasury with the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. In 1944, during the Second World War, the Treasury was moved for greater safety to the Esterházy family palace which, during the siege of Budapest, was hit by a bomb. Part of the collection was totally destroyed or irreparably damaged. Every fragment possible was rescued and since the 1960s the conservators of the museum have worked on the conservation of the surviving pieces, miraculously returning many to their former glory.

Cup and cover by Urban Wolff, Nuremberg, c.1590, silver-gilt, almandine, mother-of-pearl.

The final section in the exhibition covers this successful, ongoing conservation work. The recently conserved silver-gilt cup and cover made by Urban Wolf in Nuremburg in about 1590 with its bowl and cover formed from mother-of-pearl 'scales' has taken over three years to conserve and reconstruct from many seriously damaged and bent rescued elements.

The exhibition gives the public the opportunity to enjoy exceptionally fine 16th and 17th century gold and silver - an outstanding part of Hungary's heritage. It is the first time that such a substantial group from the Esterházy Treasury has been shown outside Hungary and the Gilbert Collection is honoured to play host to it.

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