Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 32/2. (2012)
Articles
Cloak Jewels on Transylvanian and Hungarian Mural Paintings of the Angevin Period 209 Négyszállás (Selmeczi 1981,175), in Nyárszentlőrinc (Székely 2002,40-41), Sárosd (Pl. 2/13), respectively another one is known from Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania discovered in 1937 but published for the first time only in 1996 (Pop 1996, 435-447). They appear in the hoard of Kiskunhalas-Fe/iérfó (Parádi 1990, 76), Kelebia (Tóth 1972, 223) and Ernesztháza/Banatski Despotovac, Serbia (Hatházi 2004, 143). On Hatházi’s opinion the paired disc shaped cloak accessories without attaching element and the cloak buckles are characteristic for the occident culture while the ones that have loopy fastened attaching elements soldered posterior to their back-side show similarities with the certain Avar jewelleries and they evolved not from the Byzantine jewel sewn to the honorary cloak but from the disc shaped plate brooches and the other decorating elements of complex necklaces. According to Hatházi it is not by accident that the fashion of the jewel with attaching element can be monitored in the Hungarian Conquest Period while in the Arpadian Period this type is absent and it appears again only at the end of the 13thor at the beginning of the 14th century as a Cumanian particularity (Hatházi 2004,139-140). This type is missing in Western Europe, where the cloak jewels usually consist of two elements which are not directly attached to each other. In Hungary the circle of this type can be found only in certain cemeteries and treasure troves. The difference between the quality of the two larger plates and the posterior applied attaching element is conspicuous; while the quality of the plates is mostly excellent the workmanship of the hanging brackets or loops is quite poor. Hatházi concluded that in workshops working according to the western taste this type of accessory was unknown, only the larger plates were made there and the attaching elements were made and fixed on at home for adjusting it to another, different type costume from the most prevalent wear in Hungary. It could be a proper explanation for the fashion change occurred in the Sigismund Period when this cloak jewel along with other oriental costume accessories - such as spherical plate earrings and sabretaches with bead sewn on them - fell out of use as the accompanying phenomenon of the Cumans’ assimilation process (Hatházi 2004, 144-145). In conclusion, Hatházi attributed this cloak jewel formed by three elements to the Cumanian or Jassic ethnical groups. But his statement is questioned by the representation of this jewel on the wall painting in Pest. Accurate contemporary illustration of this jewel type was unknown before the discovery of the fresco in Pest. Although Hatházi has mentioned some ethnographical analogies - for example the archive photography by Jenő Zichy (Fig. 3) of a woman from Kuban who is wearing the exact variant of the jewel at the beginning of the 20th century -, there are no close parallels from the 14th century. Hatházi also gave one example from the Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle, the miniature of Vérbulcsú (Hatházi 1988, 118-119), where the figure is wearing caftan which is held together by two round bubble ornamented plates (PI. 1/7), but there is no sign of any attaching or linking elements between them, on the contrary, they are obviously separated. Thus the only authentic illustration of the observed object is on the Madonna of Pest, and on the ground of this Fig. 3. Woman from Kuban; mural Hatházi’s suggestions for the interpretation of the jewel photography by Jenő Zichy (after couy questioned. The painter or his nationality cannot be Hatházi 1988).
