Name of Object:

Monstrance of the Golden Sun of Moravia

Also known as:

Schrattenbach’s Monstrance; The Monstrance of Olomouc

Location:

Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic

Holding Museum:

Museum of Art, Archdiocesan Museum

Original Owner:

Bishopric of Olomouc

Current Owner:

Archbishopric of Olomouc

Date of Object:

1748–1750

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Jan Anton Richter; Andreas Vogelhundt

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Gold, precious gems (diamonds, emeralds, rubies) and enamel

Dimensions:

H: 72 cm

Provenance:

Cathedral of St. Wenceslas, Olomouc

Type of object:

Applied arts

Period of activity:

Active c. 1736–1771

Place of production:

Brno

Description:

This vessel, used for carrying the Host – the embodiment of Christ's flesh – the presentation of which constitutes the spiritual climax of a mass, is one of the most precious specimens of the goldsmith's craft in Moravia. An oval incised base supports a vase-like nodus bearing a sunburst with an aperture lined with a cartouche, accentuated by a crest motif. The typically Baroque, intricately undulating ornamentation with faggoting encircles a case with a lunette, a crescent for holding the Host.
The sun as the source of life, light and Divine truth lent its name to a whole group of “solar” monstrances contrasting with medieval monstrances which were spire-shaped with Gothic pinnacles.
The decoration features certain older elements originally associated with objects now lost. The most interesting of them is an enamel label set into the back of the monstrance leg. It depicts St. Wenceslas on a Gothic throne – the emblem of the Olomouc Chapter – with the coats-of-arms of Emperor Ferdinand III (1637–1662), brother of Leopold I Vilém of Habsburg, Bishop of Olomouc and Archduke of Austria. The Gothic-style throne in the chapter emblem, supplemented with Dietrichstein wine-maker knives, possibly represents the actual “throne of St. Wenceslas” in the Olomouc cathedral, commissioned by Bishop František of Dietrichstein.
The origin of the monstrance was once associated with Cardinal Wolfgang Hanibal of Schrattenbach, Bishop of Olomouc, who bequeathed a significant amount of money for its creation. In fact, the monstrance was commissioned by the Olomouc Chapter, headed by Dean Kašpar Florentin of Glandorf and Canon Jiří Jindrich Mayer of Mayerswald, who also commissioned a missal decorated with wrought silver (1733). In recognition of its high artistic value, the monstrance remained Chapter property even after an imperial decree issued after the Napoleonic wars ordered that all objects with precious stones be transferred to Vienna.

This vessel, for carrying the Host, the embodiment of Christ's flesh, is one of only a few gold monstrances in Europe. The typically baroque, intricately undulating ornamentation encircles a case with a lunette, the crescent for holding the Host. The sunburst symbolises the source of life, light and Divine truth.

How date and origin were established:

Marked with hallmarks, it is the only known work by a Brno goldsmith demonstrating close contacts between Brno and Olomouc, the two main centres of Moravia. Although goldsmiths of the same name were also active in Augsburg and Linz, their family ties have not yet been proven.

How Object was obtained:

Following extensive restoration, the monstrance, from the treasury of the Cathedral of St. Wenceslas Olomouc, is exhibited at the Archdiocesan Museum, Olomouc.

Selected bibliography:

Miloš Stehlík, in Ivo Krsek –­­ Zdeněk Kudělka (ed) –­­ Miloš Stehlík –­­ Josef Válka, Umění baroka na Moravě a ve Slezsku, Prague, 1996, p. 595, cat. 298.
Jiří Kroupa, in Jiří Kroupa (ed), Dans le miroir des ombres. La Moravie a la age baroque 1670–­­1790, Paris–­­Rennes–­­Brno, 2002, p. 259.
Dana Stehlíková, Encyklopedie českého zlatnictví, stříbrnictví a klenotnictví, Prague, 2003, pp. 530.
Simona Jemelková –­­ Helena Zápalková (eds), Monstrance Zlaté slunce Moravy / Restaurování 2005, Olomouc, 2007.

Citation of this web page:

Zora Wörgötter "Monstrance of the Golden Sun of Moravia" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;cz;Mus11_B;20;en

Prepared by: Zora WörgötterZora Wörgötter

SURNAME: Wörgötter
NAME: Zora

AFFILIATION: Moravian Gallery in Brno

TITLE: Museum Curator and Local Co-ordinator

CV:
Zora Wörgötter studied Applied Painting at the Secondary School of Applied Arts, Video Art (Faculty of Fine Arts) at the University of Technology in Brno and Art History and Ethnology (Faculty of Arts) at Masaryk University, Brno. She has worked at the Moravian Gallery since 1997 and was curator of the Ancient Art Collection up until 2008. Specialising in Dutch and Central European painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, she has participated in the preparation of several exhibitions, catalogues and research projects in the Czech Republic and abroad, and published in the Moravian Gallery Bulletin, Opuscula historiae artium, and other journals. She is co-ordinator of the Art History Database www.ahice.net for the Czech Republic.
Copyedited by: Jiří KroupaJiří Kroupa

SURNAME: Kroupa
NAME: Jiří

AFFILIATION: Department of the History of Art (Faculty of Arts) Masaryk
University, Brno

TITLE: Professor

CV:
Professor Jiří Kroupa studied Art History, History and Sociology Masaryk University, Brno. He was a curator at the Kroměříž Museum and the Moravian Gallery in Brno before joining the staff at Masaryk University in 1988 (Head of the Department 1992–2002; Professor 1999 to present). His particular fields of interest are in the history of architecture, 18th-century cultural history and the methodology of art history. His long list of publications includes an edition on the architect Franz Anton Grimm and an essay “The alchemy of happiness: the Enlightenment in the Moravian context”. He was contributing editor for the volume Dans le miroir des ombres. Moravie a la age baroque. 1670–1790 (2002).
Translation by: Irma Charvátová
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: CZ 21