Veres László: Üvegművességünk a XVI-XIX. században (Miskolc, 2006)
HUNGARIAN GLASSWARE PRODUCTION IN THE 16TH—19TH CENTURIES
independence of 1848—49. His significant preliminary studies also focussed on this era. His study of the history of style and his conclusions made from the formal and decorative characteristics of noble glass arc of outstanding value and are still valid today. The picture he drew, however, could have been much more exquisite and complex if the author had used the possibilities offered by the collections of the Museum of Applied Arts and the Hungarian National Museum as well as several museums outside the capital. Borsos's definition of the period also reveals his extraordinary knowledge and deep insight into as well as familiarity with the special literature. He defines the 18 th — 19 th centuries as the period of ''glassp-makingj barns set up in the centre of noble families' estates', while he defines the forerunning period as one hallmarked by the activities of the 'glassworks in mining towns'. The definition of this latter period, however, also reveals a shortcoming of the monograph. The archaeological finds from the Aliddle Ages serve as supporting evidence for the thesis, or preconception, of the author as a result of arbitrary selection. Contrary to this it was already in the 1960s that ample evidence was found for the existence of small glassworks which were founded by monasteries and were producing products for the market. Another great shortcoming of the summarising work Hungarian Glass Craftsmanship is that the writer tried to create a picture of the history of certain glassmaking workshops on the basis of assumptions adopted from literary works due to a lack of critical analyses, which lead to a great number of mistakes and a high percentage of error. He did not study the products of glassworks operating in the Carpathian Basin but instead selected a few which fitted the requirements of high art. Consequently he did not manage to create the slightest harmony between noble glass and rustic or peasant glass. The essential merit of Béla Borsos's monograph Hungarian Glass Craftsmanship is that he once again directed attention to this branch of our art and industrial history. He raised the profile and stimulated interest abroad and identified the new research objectives for experts. He has inspired the publication of several new monographs. These, however, did not exclusively concentrate on the introduction of Hungarian glass craftsmanship but represent a multidimensional study of wellchosen issues and topics. The research tendencies in the period from the 1970s up to the present day can be easily defined following revision of the research results and the great number of publications inspired by Borsos. The gaps in the descriptions of objects in Borsos's study made several experts publish their expert descriptions of and age definitions for the outstanding pieces of our glass collections. Imre Katona and Vera Varga have described in detail the glass collection of the Museum of Applied Arts. The museologists of Debrecen, Miskolc and Sárvár have published studies of their glass collections in a publication for the joint exhibition of over 1500 items. Useful studies have appeared of the glass collections in Transylvania and Slovakia. Various works on the history of a number of glassworks in the Carpathian Basin have also served the wide popularisation of the material remains. The small monographs written by Béla lakács about the glassworks in the Zemplén Mountains and the glass art in Párád, as well as István Eris publication Notes on the history of glassworks in the Bakony, all appeared before the revised edition of Béla Borsos's book. This outstanding writer was familiar with these research results and he incorporated them in his work. When the small monographs describing the glass craftsmanship of the various regions were written it became clear that "there is hardly any branch in the history of Hungarian industry that suffers from such a great lack of research into its detailed aspects as the history of Hungarian glassmaking". Following the example of Béla Takács and István F!ri dozens of researchers have embarked on collecting the material rekes and processing the data of the archives unknown before and analysing the glass items. This is how studies have now appeared about the glass industry and art of the Bükk mountains, Nógrád and Zala counties, Piastern Hungary, the land of the Szeklers (Inner Transylvania), Southern Transylvania, Northwest-Uplands and Temes region. The account of Transylvanian glass craftsmanship written by Magda Bun/a and Imre Katona represents a summarising work of a greater geographical area. This latter one is a significant work which is also a mapping of the mistakes of Béla Borsos's monographs. It is easily understandable as the writers did not have access to the archives and some of their conclusions had to be adapted to political ideology The collection of the material relics was not an easy task either.
