Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)
V. EMBER Mária: Minták és változataik az úrihimzéseken
MÁRTA V. EMBER PATTERNS AND THEIR ALTERNATIVES ON SECULAR EMBROIDERY SAMPLES FROM THE EMBROIDERY COLLECTION OF THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM "Secular embroidery is the name of those relics from the 16th-18th century which cannot be integrated in the comprehensive stylistic history of European decorative arts, but were developed by a different, typically Hungarian way of decorating, using the various outside influences given by the historical circumstances of the age. There arc two sources that provide Hungarian secular embroidery with motifs: one is Italian Renaissance, enriched with some classical oriental forms, the other is the pure oriental treasury of motifs found on fabrics." This is how dr. Mária Csernyánszky defines the essence of Hungarian secular embroidery, in her essay on Magyar úrihimzésü miseruháink (Hungarian Chasubles with Secular Embroidery) 1 . Masters of embroidery - or "sewers" as they were called - were making the decoration of gala dresses, ecclesiastical clothing, velvet tableclothes, curtains and hangings, caparisons and saddles. Wandering apprentices became familiar with Italian and German pattern books and used the motifs, modified according to local taste 2 . "White clothing", that is bedclothes, tablecloths, covers, scarfs, shirts, bodices and aprons were embroidered at home, following drawn - or written - patterns. Samplers were also often prepared and carefully protected; they were even listed in the inventories 3 . However, only few of these written samples have survived - we only know the pattern drawings of Júlia Rédei, the second wife of Miklós Bethlen, Chancellor of Transylvania. The eight drawings can be dated back to the end of the seventeenth century 4 . Alternatives of some of the motifs can be detected for centuries on different pieces. For example, the plaits in the wreath of the communion cloth from the Presbyterian Church of Torda - with Júlia Rédei's name and coat of arms in the middle, enclosed by a floral wreath - arc quite similar to those appearing on the tablecloth with F.K. initials, in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum 5 . The motifs of the cherry-red and gold embroidery on a pillow cover show Renaissance influence (see pict.l). In the middle stripe there are alternating rosette motifs, each enframed by four large, serrated leaves. The two sides are decorated with flower stems. The pattern is identical at the top and bottom, divided by an imaginary central horizontal axis. It was made at the end of the 17th century. The two linen borders were embroidered a few decades later. Here the central stripe shows alternating motifs of confronting pomegranates and tulips and the framing
