Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)
PÁSZTOR Emese: A Jancsika - egy 17. századi török lótakaró típus
mentioned, together with the shields and quivers. 38 They seem to have served representative purposes only; though their decoration they still preserved the formal characteristic of the original armour, they had no defensive function. After the jancsiks that consisted of three parts, we also have to examine the két szárnyú ("two-winged") or egyes ("single") jancsiks that appear in the sources. We suppose that "two-winged" jancsiks meant a version without the front part, like the one that can be seen on the horse of Sultan Murád IV (1623-1640) on a 1639 miniature in the collection of the Topkapî Sarayî Müzesi of Istanbul. 39 We may, then, assume accordingly that egyes meant that it was cut from one single piece. In his poem commemorating the wedding of Count Miklós Bercsényi (1695), Pál Kőszeghy wrote the following about the led horse called Barna: "Egy szép vörös jancsík hátulját födözte/ Elnyúlt két ágával szügyét békötözte,/Aranynyal az varró bőven ezüstözte,/Széleit el-vegyest gombkötő fürtözte." (rough translation: Its back was covered with a nice red jancsik, the two long points of which clasped the horse's chest; richly embroidered in gold and silver, with fine fringes at the edges.) 40 The poem mentions a jancsik with "two long sides". Only two examples are known of this "two-pointed", one-piece type: one of them was made of çatma (a kind of velvet) at the end of the 16th century, and is now in the Bcnaki Museum of Athens 41 , while the other is in the collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts (see pict.6). 42 Both are cut in a curve on the two sides (just like the ones made of three pieces) we cannot definitely classify them as jancsikas, since the latter type is called cafrag in each Esterházy inventory, although in the 1724 inventory it is added, probably to give a more exact definition that the "czafrag" "covered the entire horse". 43 We often meet such ambiguous definitions of Jancsika both in contemporary sources and in literature. The main reason for the contradictions is, as we think, that jancsik was a transition between caparisons and saddle covers. It is considered a saddle cover, since it does not hide the stirrups, yet they match the criteria of a caparison in that it covers the chest of the horse. Whichever category of Turkish horse covers this latest piece (see pict.6) falls in, its splendour helps us imagine the appearence köves (jewelled) jancsiks, which are so often mentioned in the sources. Notes 1 This is descriped by a detail from Miklós Bethlen 's Élete leírása magától (Autobiography), about the wedding of László Székely (1677): (rough translation): "László Székely indeed had a great amount of horses, horse equipment and covers, servant and everything - just like a count with a thousand serfs. We may get a picture what an income and respect he had before the prince.." In. Kemény János és Bethlen Miklós müvei (The Works of J.K. and M.B). Text revised and notes by Éva V Windisch. Bp, 1980 p.692 2 The catalogues of some of the significant exhibitions: A magyarországi árvízkárosultak javára Budapesten Gf. Károly Lajos palotájában 1876 évi májusban rendezett müipari és mütörténeti emlékkiállítás tárgyainak lajstroma (The List of the Craft and Art Historical Exhibition Organised in May 1876 In the Budapest Palace of Count Lajos Károlyi, For The Victims of the Hungarian Flood). Compiled by Imre Ilenszlmann and Zsigmond Bubics, published by Imre Szalay, Budapest, 1876. Majláth, Béla: A történelmi kiállítás kalauza (A guide to the historical exhibition), Bp, 1886, Magyar hadtörténelmi emlékek az ezredéves országos kiállításon (Hungarian Military Relics on The Millenial Exhibition). Ed. Szendrei, János. Bp, 1896 (from now on Szendrei 1896) 3 Private collections that survived the turn of the century have been damaged or scattered during the past hundred years. Some of their parts are now
