Folia Historica 28. (Budapest, 2013)

II. KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Ridovics Anna: Igaz vagy hamis, egy legenda nyomában: Kovács Károly, az első magyar tajtékpipa metsző munkája a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeumban?

Austria, thus becoming the inventor of an industry that later spread on a very large scale. The first meerschaum pipe made by Kovács was presented to the Hungarian National Museum. Earlier nothing has been able to substantiate the legend. No data about Károly Kovács was unearthed. Neither the famous pipe nor any document, inventory entry or deed of gift could be found in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum. According to the sources the first meerschaum pipe made by Kovács was kept in the Hungarian National Museum in 1873-1874. Anna Ridovics found three meerschaum pipes among the objects transferred in 1879 from the Hungarian National Museum to the Museum of Applied Arts according to the 1878-1879 register. One of them was decorated with three medallions placed among richly engraved military insignia: a crowned king, a man holding a horn of plenty and a Turkish sultan, each of whom surrounded by an inscription in German. This pipe is identical to the piece in the collection of Applied Arts made at the beginning of the 18th century, celebrating King Charles III of Hungary's 1718 Pozsarevác Peace Treaty. The auther suggestes that this piece could be told the "Kovacs's pipe".

The iconographic analysis modifies a little the earlier descriptions of the pipe. In the medallions can be seen the busts of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (1685-1740), King Charles III of Hungary (1711-1740) and the Turkish Emperor Achmed III (1673- 1736, 1703-1730). Between the military insignia, in the front part of the pipe's rotund bowl, the crowned allegorical figure of Peace is enthroned, a horn of plenty and a sword in hand. Beside her stands a warrior in armour and visor, his foot treading upon a crown. He holds a horn of plenty aloft, the contents of which he is tipping toward the female figure. He is Mars, God of War expressing that military successes create the opportunity for plenty, rest and peace. The allegorical animal scene above the central figures signifies triumph. Anna Ridovics identified the possible graphic prepictures for the carvings. The pipe erects a memorial to the 1718 peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire signed by Charles VI at Pozarevac. There is one interesting pipe probably from the same period saved in the Alice Rothschild Collection in Grasse, France (Inv. N. 269. AS-9-87-400/34). The style and the motives are very close to the "Peace Treaty"-pipe. The lower part is a biblical scene - Daniel the prophet is praying between the lions. Above it can be seen a portrait of a Turkish general (Sultan?) between military insignia. The auther thinks that this pipe also can be related to the historical situation after the Peace Treaty, and may could come from the same workshop.

The Museum of Applied Arts preserves another pipe, also connected with the Turkish Wars. On the bowl of the pipe with the inscription VIVAT CAROLUS, below the triumphant arch crowned with the coat-of-arms of the House of Habsburg, the emperor as victorious commander can be seen on a chariot drawn by lions, at the head of his soldiers and Turkish prisoners of war. An engraved inscription and monogram can be discerned on the silver lid, which reads, "Souvenir d'amitie, CB". Anna Ridovics suggests that the Vivat Carolus pipe could be presented to Count Carolus Batthyány. Károly József Batthyány (Rohonc, 1698-Vienna, 1772) count, later (1764) duke, War Lord, Field Marshal. He fought from an early age, being present at the Turkish War between 1716- 1718. He was a member of the 1719 Imperial delegation at Constantinople. Between 1739 and 1740 he was Ambassador of the Habsburg Court in Berlin. The auther suggests that the two pipes of the Museum of Applied Arts may have belonged to the same owner,

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