Ornamento kaita XVIII a. Lietuvos sakralinėje auksakalystėje

ENThe article intends to review and illustrate, with specific examples, the changes in the ornamentation of Lithuanian goldsmithery of the 18th century and to identify the main decor motifs found in the items of the time. It also compares the chronology of changes in ornamental motifs with decor development processes seen in articles from important goldsmithery centres of Europe such as Augsburg, Nuremberg and Prussian cities. The ornaments used by Lithuanian masters were copied from professional goldsmithery of other regions and their fluctuation corresponded to the general chronological trends of the neighbouring regions of Europe. In comparison to Augsburg, the most significant goldsmithery centre at the time, Vilnius school was inferior in the mastery of craft and variety of ornamental motifs and their combinations. However, there were many similarities between the production of Vilnius and goldsmithery articles from Nuremberg and Prussian cities. The ornament of dry acanthus appeared in Lithuania at practically the same time as in Augsburg or Gdansk but, due to disasters fallen on the country in the beginning of the 18th century, it only established itself after a pause, in the 2nd decade. This variation of acanthus became extremely popular among Vilnius' goldsmiths and was even more perfected than in other cities.Another motif - a striped ornament in Regency style - appeared in Vilnius goldsmithery items right after the outbreak of plague, i.e. circa 1712 and this could have been related to the arrival of new craftsmen to the now half-empty land. By 1725 it was already widely spread among the best masters of Vilnius: it was seen more than once in goldsmithery articles of high artistic level. Its echoes can also be detected in utensils of provincial quality dated later than 1750. The arrival of rococo to Lithuania was a little late in comparison with goldsmithery of Prussia and, even more so, of Augsburg but it became undoubtedly dominant in the sacral goldsmithery starting from the middle of the century. The classicistic trends that reached Lithuania in the end of the 18th century significantly changed aesthetic principles of applied arts and affected the ornamentation of goldsmithery leaving deeper traces in the composition and decoration of church utensils than in Prussia. [From the publication]