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Silk fabrics and velvets 16th and 17th-century aristocratic textiles from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts – Budapest will be shipped and opens at an exhibition at the City of Hangzhou in the Chinese State Silk Museum.

The most important raw material of textile art is silk, which, due to its value, also played a significant role in the history of Hungarian textile art. Since there was no independent silk industry, since the 11th century, in Hungary, expensive foreign silk fabrics were used for decorative clothing and church regalia that corresponded to the taste of the time. Byzantine from the 11th century, from the 12th to the 15th From the 19th century, we preserve Hungarian church vestments and mass vestments (casula) made of Italian silk fabrics, secular vestments from this period have not survived. In the 16th century, as a result of the Ottoman-Turkish conquest, Hungary was divided into three parts, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Principality of Transylvania and the conquered territory in the middle.

When selecting the material for the treasury focused on artefacts made from the most valuable silk fabrics of the period in such a way that the 16th-17th century by exhibiting objects representing the lifestyle of Hungarian aristocrats in the 19th century, we will also provide an insight into the history of the Hungarian holidays, fashion, housing culture and warfare of the time. In addition to the costumes worn by the male members of the Esterházy family and preserved as relics, tapestries also made of special silk fabric, as well as ceremonial costumes and decorative weapons used on festive occasions – accompanied by decorative weapons – will be presented.

In the eastern part of the country, in the territory of the Principality of Transylvania, which was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, many valuable Turkish silk fabrics and silk kaftans (hil’at) were brought to the territory of the Principality of Transylvania in the 16th and 17th centuries through its trade and diplomatic relations. during the century. The western, north-western part of the country under the authority of the Habsburg Empire and at war with the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, was ruled by palatines (palatinus) elected by the Hungarian orders. Palatines and other lords of the Kingdom of Hungary bought silk primarily in Vienna or Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. century and their costumes were made from Italian, less often Spanish or French silk fabrics, but Ottoman-Turkish and Persian Safavid fabrics were also highly valued. The written sources of the period, dowry registers and inheritance inventories list many women’s and men’s costumes made of valuable silk fabric from this period, but only a few of them have survived in Hungary, which was hit by wars over the centuries. These include the textile ensemble of the treasury of the Palatines of Hungary, Count Miklós Esterházy (1583-1645) and his son Prince-Nádor Pál Esterházy (1635-1713), on the basis of which we can learn about the 16th-17th centuries. the magnificence of the luxurious costumes, tapestries, tablecloths, horse equipment and gun holsters of the 19th century Hungarian nobility. The textile relics of the treasury are kept by the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, and although the II. The collection suffered severe damage during the Second

World War, and thanks to the careful restoration work of the past decades, they once again represent the wealth of the former Hungarian nobility’s collections in a dignified manner.

Update by Aggie Reiter