Tapestry with the united arms of the Erdély and Lorántffy families

The border is decorated with slightly curved flowers on one side. The corners have clusters of flowers and the same motifs appear in the middle of the sides. The united coats of arms of the Lórántffy family and Transylvania appear in the middle, in a heart-shaped shield ensigned with a coronet, surrounded by acanthus leaves. Zsuzsanna Lórántffy (1600-1660) married György Rákóczi I. later Prince of Transylvania, in 1616. The arms would suggest that the cloth was made during the period between 1630 (when Rákóczi was elected Prince of Transylvania) and 1660 (the death of Zsuzsanna Lórántffy). It must have been a bed-cover at that time (as were some other items of the Esterházy collection). It is mentioned in the 1725 Inventory as "a cherry red bed-cover, made of velvet, embroidered with gold and silver thread with flowery patterns" (cf. Inventarium Thesauri Fraknensis Anno 1725. Almarium Sub. Nris. 75 et 76 No. 14 - IM Archives 236/1957). There is a tablecloth and a sacramental cloth with identical coats of arms in the Hungarian National Museum and an altar-cloth in the Protestant Collection of Sárospatak. The piece described above must be the work of a professional embroiderer or embroidery workshop.