GODŁO I DEWIZA SCHAFFGOTSCHÓW NA ŚLĄSKICH SZKŁACH BAROKOWYCH
THE COAT OF ARMS AND MOTTO OF THE SCHAFFGOTSCH FAMILY ON SILESIAN BAROQUE GLASSWARE

Summary/Abstract: The coat of arms with the motto of the Schaffgotsch family occupies a prominent place in therich repertoire of motifs decorating Silesian Baroque glass. The article attempts to explain theorigins of the emblem depicting a sheep against the background of a spruce tree; unfortunately,the origin of the motto Aucun temps ne le change (No time will change it) remains a mystery.The main part of the article is devoted to the iconography of glass decorated with the Schaffgotschfamily’s coat of arms and motto, which constitutes a group of approximately fifty preserved items,and those known from publications dating from before 1939. Their great diversity in terms of theirform and, above all, in additional engraved and cut elements – are the work of several artistsactive from the 1690s to the 1770s. The earliest glasses with this motif by Friedrich Winter wereadditionally decorated with floral ornaments, but his successors (his son Andreas Winter aswell as Siegmund Feist and Jeremias Feisten, and later Samuel Mattern and Christian GottfriedSchneider) created more elaborate iconographic programmes. Not only did they include clearreferences to the Schaffgotsch family, by using the motif of Chojnik Castle, which the familyowned, but also mythological themes that were difficult to interpret, landscapes interwovenwith genre scenes, hunting, etc., and even chinoiseries. A separate group consists of goblets(three known examples), whose unique, well-thought-out decoration with, among other things,allegories of the cardinal and principal virtues served to glorify the Schaffgotsch family.

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