of 1540; it can hardly be doubted that this excellent piece of work came from the workshop of Caraglio.
The Sigismund Chapel, which appears like the first orient star in the heaven of the Polish Renasence, became the classic model of the new style. The magnificent Polish eagle, embossed in silver on the back of the marble throne (illustration 57), maywell have been the first piece of goldsmith's work in the Renascence fashion. Besides this, we find two most valuable monuments of German Renascence in the Sigismund Chapel; one of these is the silver altar-piece with side-wings, Nuremberg work of 1538 (illustrations 92, 93), the reliefs representing scenes from the life of Christ after engravings of Dürer's. This was made by order of King Sigismund I., after his victory over the Tartars. Three German masters of repute in the field of German applied art combined to produce this work: Peter Flötner supplied the reliefs carved in wood, Pancratius Labenwolf the bronze foundings, and Melchior Bayr the embossed work. The other Renascence ornaments of the Sigismund Chapel are two silver candlesticks, elaborate work of 1536; they were also given by King Sigismund I. About this time, 1530-1534, and in 1538, a brother of Albrecht Dürer's, named Andrew, a goldsmith, stayed at Cracow and executed some large orders. Unable to enter into a detailed history of Cracow goldsmith's art, most interesting as it is, we should only like to accentuate the fact that it formed a highly important branch of artistic manufacture and well deserves a special treatment. The height of its development was reached in the reign of King Sigismund Augustus, whose collections of objects of art enjoyed a worldwide fame. He also favoured the art by his habit of distributing presents of its production; thus, a badge he presented to the Shooters' Guild at Cracow, still in possession of the present Rifle Association, and worn by the champion shot at the yearly festivals, is a fine relic of Renascence goldsmiths' art. The King's example was followed by his courtiers; thus, a Court official, Severinus Boner, presented to the salt-miners of Wieliczka, near Cracow, in 1534, a magnificent buffalo's horn
