Original scientific paper
The treasures of the parish church in Grobnik
Pavičić Snježana
; Hrvatski povijesni muzej
Abstract
The discovery of registers for the period between 1878 and 1896, and especially the discovery of an 1895 sales contract between the royal government and Grobnik parish church, and a manuscript by Don Josip Burić, the bishop's secretary in Senj in the period between 1935 and 1945, who worked in the episcopal archives, have finally helped to clear up the question where eight rare artefacts, dating from between the 12th and the 17th century, now among the holdings of the Croatian Museum of History in Zagreb, were found. The artefacts in question are as follows: 1. A silver reliquary in the form of a cross with an ellipsoidal central 'cabochon' (bitter crystal) and globular endings. By comparison with other archaeological finds, the type of the internal cross can be dated to the second half of the 12th century.
2. A silver and gold-plated reliquary on an eight-leaf basis, with the node in the form of a hexagonal gothic templetto and with the octagonal upper part with the figures of the Virgin with Christ, St. Catherine, St. Peter and St. Paul situated among glass-enclosed openings with trefoil endings. By analogy with similar examples, the work is ascribed to an experienced Croatian master, most likely a goldsmith from Zadar of the end of the 15th century.
3. An elongated silver reliquary with an ostensory, an eight-section node and an octagonal basis with four applied medallions containing portraits of saints. The mark on the inside of the stand reading 'leone in moleca' points directly to the work of a Venetian master of the second half of the 15th century.
4. A silver pacifical, originally a pectoral cross, on an octagonal basis with an apple-shaped node with more deeply engraved lines. On the crossing of pieces with trefoil endings is the figure of crucified Christ and a tetramorph on the front, and on the back a figure of the crowned Virgin in the centre, and the figures of God the Father, Mary Magdalene, John the Evangelist and a plate containing an engraved picture of a 'wild man' on the arms of the cross. It consists of three different parts joined together, and is probably the work of Croatian masters of the second half of the 15th century.
5. A silver pectoral cross with trefoil endings, decorated on the front with cut stones, with a pale pink amethyst in the middle. Judging by the crude craftsmanship, the cross must be the work of a Croatian master from the beginning of the 16th century.
6. Thecae of gold-plated silver, made of two parts with a richly decorated edge belt with the motive of a winding branch. In the centre on one side is the figure of St. Catherine engraved on mother-of-pearl, and on the other a picture of the 'Crucifixion' on a dark-blue enamel background. According to its stylistic features, it can be dated as belonging to the late 15th or the beginning of the 16th century, but it is uncertain which particular circle of workshops it could be attributed to (German, Italian or Hungarian).
7. A casula of scarlet paper-backed velvet with a cross embroidered on the front and the back. The velvet comes from north-Italian workshops of the first half of the 16th century, and the embroidered crosses were added later, possibly in the second half of the 15th century. On the front cross are the figures of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin, with St. Anthony the Abbot between them, and an unidentified bearded saint underneath. On the back are the figures of the Virgin with Christ and St. Peter and St. Paul, with St. Anthony of Padua and St. Lawrence beneath.
8. An embroidered heart-shaped reliquary, decorated on the front with regular eight-petalled flowers, with a square frame for a relic in the middle. Probably made in Croatian embroidery workshops of the 17th century.
Bearing in mind the owners of the Grobnik estate, to whom the above late Gothic and early Renaissance artefacts (No. 2-7) might be directly linked, the most convincing theories are those which connect these artefacts with Prince Bernardin Frankopan, who, like his father Stjepan, went on diplomatic missions between the Hungarian king Matheus Corvinus, the Pope and the royal court in Naples, and was related to powerful aristocratic families: the Visconti, the Sforza, the Aragons and the Dukes of Ferrara. The period between the end of the 15th century to Bernardin's death in 1529 was one of very active church building and citadel and town fortification, and it is during this period that domestic crafts and art workshops are likely to have developed.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
148085
URI
Publication date:
15.12.1997.
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