Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 64-65. (Budapest, 1972)

KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Varannai, Gyula: Aszklepiosz a magyar éremművészetben (angol nyelven)

In 1900 the Stefánia Children's Hospital had a medal made after the signet of its legal predecessor, the Pest Hospital of Poor Infants founded in 1839. It displays a scene where the seated Asklepios receives in his "consulting room" a smaller child sitting on the arm of its mother and another one lead by the hand. We know nothing of the author of the medal or the signet, but it does not reach the artistic standards of the age. (Fig. 2.) This was the model of a 23 mm emblem commemorating the 1927 meeting of the Association of German Paediatricians held in Budapest. Its legend is the following: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinderheilkunde Tagung Budapest 1927. Its reverse has the same in Hungarian. The 40 + 40 mm medal for the XVI. International Congress of Physicians held in Budapest was made by György Vastagh. The athletic, bearded Asklepios sits in his chair with easy stylishness, his rod with the serpent looks more like a sceptre than the symbol of his profession. His hedonistic pose recalls the spirit of the first years of the new century. (Fig. 3.) Richárd Zutt was of Swiss origin but lived in Hungary. He made a 92 + 87 mm medal for the 1914 gathering (planned for London but prevented by the outbreak of World War I) of the International Veterinary Congress founded in 1905 in Budapest. It shows Asklepios as a youngster hugging a wooly sheep, when he was banished by his father Apollo to Mount Pelion where he learned the art of healing following the instructions of the centaur Kheiron, while grazing his herd. (Fig. 4.) The model of another medal made in 1915 was Hümér Hültl, professor of surgery. The reverse side depicts the already mature but beardless Aesculap supporting himself with his rod with a wry smile on his face. The artful pleats of his toga give an additional emphasis to his unconcealed young body. The god parading among medicinal plants radiates a definite joie de vivre. This presentation leaves no doubt that the artist wanted to intimate the wordly nature of the