Jadvygos Jogailaitės skrynutė - unikali Renesanso epochos vertybė

• Lietuvių kalba / Lithuanian
• Rusų kalba / Russian

• Ларец Ядвиги Ягеллонки - уникальный памятник эпохи Ренессанса
• Hedwig Jagiellon’s coffret - a unique Renaissance treasure

ENThe opulent jewellery coffret that is part of the St Petersburg State Hermitage (Russia) treasures collection is an outstanding work of art from the Renaissance era. The wooden base and the four-sloped removable lid are covered by gold plated silver plates. The additions to the coffret body itself are especially decorative, and include pendants, crosses and rings. The feet resemble vultures, and two of them hold shields with the coats of arms of the Elector of Brandenburg and the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The coats of arms with the surviving stamp of Nürnberg (Germany) and the engraved year 1533 allow us to place this work of art as among the finest produced by jewellers of southern Germany from the 16th century. This coffret was part of the dowry of Hedwig Jagiellon, the daughter of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund the Old, who in 1535 married the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim Hohenzollern. It most likely ended up in Russia following the wedding held in 1711 of the son of Peter the Great, Alexei, and the Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüt- tel, Charlotte Christina Sophia, the direct descendant of Hedwig Jagiellon, as part of the latter’s dowry. The coffret has been mentioned in the tsars’ treasure inventories several times, later it was kept in the Diamond Hall of the Winter Palace. It became a museum exhibit in the mid-19th century. Various jewellery production techniques have been used in the coffret’s decoration. The silver plates have been gilded in gold. The master jeweller was rather bold in his combinations of gemstones, incorporating cut, polished and drilled stones.Many of the pendants adorning the coffret could have certainly existed as independent items of jewellery, only later being included into this particular piece. The mounting of each element in a specially prepared position testifies that this mode of decoration was devised by the jeweller earlier on, as part of the artistic concept as a whole. The sheer variety of subjects in the pendants is extraordinary. Portrait cameos comprise a large portion of these pendants. There are also story-based compositions, and examples of mythological and Christian symbolism. Probably the most elaborate decorative element is the pendant found in the centre of the front panel of the coffret - an image of Caius Mucius Scae- vola crafted from diamonds. The coffret was crafted in the masters’ workshops in Nürnberg, yet the attribution of a particular author to this work still remains unresolved. Specialists have noted analogies to Peter Flötner who worked with Melchior Baier, who worked on commissions from the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund the Old in Krakow. Some of the coffret’s decorative elements have not reached our days in their prime condition, some of the pendants are missing, along with a few gemstones and pearls. Several years ago the coffret was restored at the State Hermitage restoration laboratory. Following its exhibition in Lithuania, it again adorns the exposition of jewellery art of the State Hermitage Treasure Gallery.