HONOURING THE MEMORY OF THE 1848–49 REVOLUTION AND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, Glasses in the Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts
"Rain pours down
On Louis Kossuth’s hat
For every raindrop on his hat
A blessing on his head
Long live Hungarian Freedom!
Long live the Fatherland!"
(From the recruiting song known as the Kossuth Song during the 1848–49 revolution and war of independence. Translation by Michael Miller.)
There is a distinctive group among 19th-century commemorative glasses, those that honour the memory of the 1848–49 revolution and war of independence in Hungary. They are artefacts of their time, with ornamentation that reflect the spirit of the era, patriotic sentiments that sought sovereignty and independence for the country.
The Hungarian coat of arms with the crown is invariably a motif on 1848–49-themed commemorative glasses. This emphatic featuring of the national symbol, repeated like an epic formula, stemmed from the so-called April Acts.
On 15 March 1848, the revolutionaries had the acting government (“Helytartótanács,” or, Office of the Governor) accept the 12 points of their demands, without any bloodshed. On 17 March, King Ferdinand V authorized Archduke Stephen of Austria to appoint Lajos Batthyány Prime Minister of Hungary. The members of his government were appointed by the monarch on 7 April. The laws that formalized the new government were ratified by King Ferdinand V in Bratislava on 11 April 1848. Act XXI of 1848 provided that “the national colours and the coat of arms of the country shall be restored to their ancient rights.”[1]
The Hungarian coat of arms that came into use in the early 16th century comprises a vertically impaled escutcheon tapering to a point at its base, bearing the Holy Crown on its top. The four silver stripes of the left field, which alternate with three red ones, represent four rivers: the Danube, the Tisza, the Drava and the Sava. The double cross on the right, against a red background, refers to the apostolic kingdom. The triple green crest underneath represents three mountains: the Mátra, the Tatra and the Fatra. In another interpretation, the triple crest represents the pillars of royal power: Faith, Power and Will.
Glasses decorated with the Hungarian coat of arms with the crown were probably as likely to be found in the simple households of peasants and craftsmen as in the homes of the wealthy gentry. As much is suggested by the fact that this group of objects includes both glasses whose simple, colourless material is decorated with crudely executed painting, and ones with complex ornamentation, richly gilded specimens with ground and engraved decoration on copper-ruby bases and elaborate paintings in coloured enamel. With the latter, it is not uncommon for the coat of arms with the crown to be accompanied by the inscription, “Long live the Fatherland!”
Glasses that commemorate the events of 1848–49 typically feature the national colours. The red, white and green usually appear in the coat of arms. Sometimes the Hungarian coat of arms with the crown appears in the company of national tricolours (inv. no. 53.387.1. and 57.313.1–2.). There are cases when the national colours are even more prominent, filling the entire surface of the side of the glass (inv. no. 60.92.1. and 64.125.1.).
An example of the latter is a drinking vessel in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest made of multi-layered glass. Two opaque layers of glass, coloured white and red, were applied on top of the transparent, green, base layer, and the tricolour design—horizontal below the rim and vertical underneath it—was fashioned by grinding off one or two layers. There is a coin embedded in the base, which, when viewed from above, shows the Hungarian coat of arms with the crown. Its inscription, “SIX / KREUTZERS / 1849,” reveals the year of production.
There is another piece in the collection of the museum, a finely crafted vessel of colourless glass, whose dating is facilitated by the coin embedded in it (inv. no. 20019.). Its inscription reads “ONE / KREUTZER / 1848,” tying it unambiguously to the year of the revolution.
“And wheresoever we may perish
Grandchildren those graves shall cherish
Singing our praises in their prayers
To thank us that our names are theirs.
By all the gods of Hungary
We hereby swear,
That we the yoke of slavery
No more shall wear.”
(From Sándor Petőfi’s National Song, written in Pest on 13 March 1848. Translation by George Szirtes.)
On 13 August 1849, at Világos, the Hungarian troops, under the command of Artúr Görgey, were forced to lay down their arms in front of the Russian intervention forces. The defeat was followed by bloody reprisals: Julius Jacob von Haynau, the commander-in-chief of the imperial troops sent to Hungary, set up a court martial that sentenced hundreds of officers and civilians to death. On 6 October, twelve generals and a colonel of the Hungarian army were executed in Arad, while the country’s first prime minister, Lajos Batthyány, was put to death in Pest.
As the tragic end of the war of independence became the subject of remembrance, the representation of heroic death appeared on the commemorative glasses, which was also a visual expression of the grief and sorrow over the losses. The weeping willow is a symbol of mourning: the long drooping branches of the tree bend over the Hungarian coat of arms with the crown and embrace an inscription, “In Memory of.” The figure of the dog next to the willow tree can be interpreted as a symbol of loyalty and service to the nation and country (inv. no. 57.516.1. and 57.517.1.).
Heroic death could be expressed not only with abstract symbols, but concretely as well. These two-footed ornamental glasses are cases in point, with the figural scenes ground and engraved on the copper-ruby base (inv. no. 57.317.1. and 64.123.1.). Although the two pieces were added to the museum’s collection at different times, independently of each other, the images make them each other’s pendants, as it were. One of the glasses shows a mounted soldier holding his wounded comrade, on the other, hussars knot a ribbbon on the grave of their dead fellow.
As their name suggests, commemorative glasses were meant, above all, to assist remembrance, preserve the memory of events. Pieces have survived in a variety of techniques, designs and decorations, which, along with the relatively large number of extant specimens, suggests that this was once a popular type of object.
[1] https://net.jogtar.hu/ezer-ev-torveny?docid=84800021.TV&searchUrl=/ezer-ev-torvenyei?pagenum%3D27 (14/03/2023 7:30 am)
by Ildikó Kálosi
