Embellishing the Uneven: Mounted Loštice Goblets in Moravia

Agnieszka Dziki

Loštice goblets, produced in Northern Moravia between 1350 and ca. 1540, circulated in
European castles for generations and were perceived as mysterious artifacts. By the 1580s, they
were recontextualized within courtly and guild drinking culture through the addition of silver-gilt
mounts bearing coats of arms, granting them new social value (fig. 1). Based on analysis from my
doctoral research, all known owners of mounted Loštice cups used them to express social
distinction and communal identity during formal wine consumption and toasting rituals. The silver “framing” around the rim and foot not only improved functionality but redefined the coarse earthenware for elite use. This juxtaposition—rough blistered clay and smooth silver—
emphasized class divides. In the Leiningen-Westerburg example, this contrast was sharpened: the mounts framed and redefined the vessel’s coarse, blistered surface, transforming a material associated with peasant production into an object of elite performance and controlled irony (fig. 2).
The aim of the project I propose to undertake at Masaryk University in Brno is to
investigate the early modern contexts in which Loštice goblets functioned in Moravia. Preliminary research suggests that their distinct blistered surface was widely recognized and metaphorically charged. Contemporary literary and medical sources, such as Vavřinec Leandr Rvačovský’s Massopust, used the term “Loštická” to describe skin diseases, drawing visual analogies to the vessels’ rough texture. According to Ludvík Skružný, this term remained in use for centuries after the pottery’s production ceased. Archival records, however, indicate that Loštice goblets were owned by elite figures, including Jan Filipec, bishop and royal advisor, whose 1490 inventory lists a “Loščicky pot plated with silver.”
The project, therefore, aims to investigate the reception and reworking of Loštice goblets
in early modern Moravia and to analyze these findings in dialogue with research I have previously conducted on their use and reinterpretation in southern Germany and Austria

Artistic circulations between East and West: The Council of Basel (1431-1439)

Alix Buisseret

Proposed research topic adopts a European approach to late medieval art by examining how transnational events, such as the Council of Basel (1431–1449), fostered artistic mobility and the circulation of visual models. The Council represents a pivotal moment to understand how styles and iconographic traditions moved beyond regional boundaries, shaped by diplomatic, political, and ecclesiastical exchanges. In my doctoral thesis, I focused on the artistic dynamics surrounding the Council, particularly through the role of Geneva and the court of Savoy under Amadeus VIII, elected as Antipope Felix V in Basel in 1439. I now wish to explore the Eastern embassies—especially Bohemian and Polish—and their involvement in these exchanges. Relations and artistic reception between East and West can be observed, for instance, through two case studies, I aim to investigate further. The first is a prayer book created in Bohemia c. 1440 (Brno, Moravian Library, RKP-0483.661), which reveals the integration of Netherlandish motifs that probably circulated in Basel. The second consists of two theological manuscripts produced in Basel in 1435 for Thomas Strzempino, bishop of Kraków and delegate to the Council (Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellonska, 1210 and Rkp. 1371 IV). In my thesis, I have attributed the paintings to Péronet Lamy, a painter active in Geneva and for the court of Savoy. The two examples point to the dissemination of Franco-Flemish models and their reception in Central Europe. Through these examples, the project proposes a material study of manuscripts linked to Eastern embassies at the Council of Basel. The aim is to understand how these diplomatic contexts shaped the circulation and interpretation of models. This study would greatly benefit from access to the rich bibliographic resources assembled by the late Jarmila Vacková, particularly regarding Bohemian libraries and the reception of Northern art in 15th-century Central Europe.