Cup and saucer

Cup and saucer with the emblem of the Jewish Sports Club Hasmonea Lwów (1908–1939). The name of the club was supposed to refer to the Hasmoneans (the Maccabees, an ancient dynasty ruling in Judea; see https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/slownik/machabeusze, in Polish only). In the interwar period, the football team of the Hasmonea Lwów club was one of the four first-league football teams representing the city (along with Pogoń, Czarni, and Lechia). It was also the largest Jewish sports club in the history of Polish football.

The colours white and blue were associated with the Zionist ideology. In a one-day paper issued in 1938 to celebrate the club’s thirtieth anniversary, we can read: “The creation of Hasmonea was not accidental. it was the first decade of our century, the period of social changes and the intensification of national aspirations, when Zionism began its victorious march and the intelligentsia, especially student youth inspired by the Zionist idea, laid the foundations for the building of a Zionist organization by creating its individual units: student corporations – that begot also the idea of physical regeneration which must accompany spiritual regeneration”. Hasmonea, established in that time, was to implement the idea. Thus, Hasmonea grew out of Zionism and, as such, conducted its activities in the field of physical education.

The cup was made of porcelain. The shape of the vessel is cylindrical, with no separate foot. The walls are decorated with delicate fluting up to 2/3 of the height. The handle, with a straight (flattened) upper edge, is stuck at 2/3 of the height, where the grooving ends. At the edge of the outflow lip, there is a wider cobalt-coloured strip and a narrower gilded strip above it. On the wall, halfway up the cup, the emblem of the Jewish Sports Club Hasmonea Lwów with a blue top field and gilded edges. The saucer is also made of porcelain. It is flat, round and has a distinct low foot. It bears a similar decoration at the edge and is marked with the club emblem as well. The shield of the emblem is slightly pointed at the bottom, it has a characteristic narrowing at 1/3 of the height and at the top. A black line running from the top right edge to the bottom left edge divides it into two fields. The acronym of the club was inscribed in the line in such a way that it constitutes the axis for the ‘Ż’, while the ‘K’ and the ‘S’ become its branches. The upper field is coloured cobalt, the lower one remains white. The lettering below the acronym is the remainder of the sports club name.

Marta Frączkiewicz