Bókai, János (2) (John) (Jónás, Tóbiás Bock) (Igló, now Spisská Nová Ves, Slovakia, 17 May 1822 - Budapest, 20 October 1888) – Pediatrician. He was born in the Cipszer (Ethnic-German) region of the Norther Hungary (Felvidék, now Slovakia). In May of 1849 he changed his name to Bókai in sympathy of the Hungarian War of Independence. He first studied Law at the Reformed College of Sárospatak; but he abandoned his legal studies and took on medicine at the Medical School of Pest and at the University of Vienna. He obtained his MD from the University of Pest in 1847. His circle of friends included the poet Sándor (Alexander) Petőfi and novelist Mór (Maurice) Jókai. His first appointment was at the Hospital of Ágoston Schöpf-Mérei, where he specialized in pediatrics. In 1852 he was appointed Head of the Poor Children’s Hospital of Pest. After the 1867 Compromise with Austria, he became a member of the National Public Health Council. In 1882 he helped establishing the 144-bed Stefánia Children’s Hospital in Budapest. He became involved in teaching at the Medical School and published in medical journals. B: 1419, T: 7103.→Schöpf-Mérei, Ágoston; Petőfi, Sándor; Jókai, Mór; Cipszers.
Bokály – Name of a pear-shaped ceramic jug, mostly glazed, with a wide outward flaring mouth (without beak or lip), a loop handle, and a slightly out-flaring foot. The term most probably derived either from the German pokal,or the Italian bocal, or perhaps the Turkish bakal, and came into general use in Hungary around the late 16th to early 17th centuries. Its earliest documented appearance is in 1585. At that time the word had a broader meaning. It denoted not only jugs but cups, ewers, even wall tiles and stoves, all tin-glazed, and was almost exclusively made by the Habans in western or northern Hungary and also in Transylvania (Erdély, now in Romania). The bokály shape became very popular in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. Outstanding among them are the bokálys produced by the Transylvanian Saxon potters, decorated with graffito designs on a dark blue glaze. – B: 1134, T: 7654.→Habans.