Artyści grudziądzcy w XVII i XVIII wieku. Część 1: Złotnicy

• Authors: Łyczak Bartłomiej

Title variants

DE

Graudenzer Künstler in 17. und 18. Jh. Teil: 1 Goldschmiede

EN

The Grudziądz artists in the 17th and 18th c. Part one: Goldsmiths

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article discusses the goldsmiths active in Grudziądz in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was prepared on the basis of the archival research in previously unused records of the local Protestant and Catholic parishes, stored in Evangelisches Zentralarchiv in Berlin and Archives of Historical Records of the Toruń Diocese in Toruń. Grudziądz appears to have been a small goldsmithing centre, where – apart from a short period at the turn of the 17th and 18th c. – only two masters operated at the same time. There was no separate guild of goldsmiths in Grudziądz; hence, young apprentices from Grudziądz took lessons in workshops in Toruń and Gdańsk. Conrad Wiesenberg, who died in 1627, was the earliest recorded local master. In the second half of the 17th century, this branch of craftsmanship was almost monopolized by the members of the Korn family, engaged in goldsmithing for at least four generations. They also achieved a high social status – Nicolaus II (died in 1700) and Nicolaus III (1668–1730) were urban councillors. The last representative of the Grudziądz line of the goldsmiths was Johann Korn (1700–after 1748). In the second half of the 18th c., the goldsmiths from the Tag family took over the dominant position in the city. However, in this case the professional activity was not connected with the political career – instead, they were rather typical craftsmen. Noteworthy is the fact that both Christian Tag born in Karsforf in Saxony (1725–1803), and his son Philip Jacob Tag (1772–1807) became non-resident members of the Goldsmith Guild of Toruń. At the present state of research, none of the preserved works can be connected with any of the Grudziądz workshops. In his volume on the goldsmithing in West Prussia published in 1908, Eugen von Czihak enumerated two liturgy trays bought in 1762 among the silver of the Protestant church that are missing today. They were marked with an allegedly city sign with the letter “G”, and the master sign “CT”, probably referring to Christian Tag. In the façade of the Church of St. Nicholas there was a cruet tray with a sign “G/NK”. Hypothetically, it could be a sign of one of the members of the Korn family named Nicolaus, fastened alongside the town hallmark. The silver, nowadays kept in local churches, were created by esteemed Toruń masters (Georg Vieck, Michael David Haussmann, Michael Borgoni) and Gdańsk masters (Christian Pichgel). Most probably, the local goldsmiths dealt mainly with minor jewellery and repair works, as well as with weighing and valuation of works.

• Publisher: Muzeum w Grudziądzu
• Journal: Rocznik Grudziądzki
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 26
• Pages: 51-71

Dates

published

2018

Contributors

author

Łyczak Bartłomiej

• Toruń

Identifiers

ISSN

0080-3464