Begovácz Rózsa – Burján István – Vándor Andrea: Folk Art in Baranya County (Pécs, 2008)

Interieurs, Furniture

central importance not only in the wedding ceremony, but it was also a piece of ornamental furniture in the room as a symbol. Contrary to hewn chests that were made by handicraftsmen, painted chests were the works of trained artisans. A small furniture-painting centre was created in Váralja which worked from the middle of the 1800s until the beginning of the 1900s. The workshop was working through several generations. Beautiful objects were made by Henrik and János Müsch, who made their flower ornaments by pattern sheets, painting bigger chests for underwear and clothes, and also smaller cases for jewels, headdresses. The most frequent pattern was symmetrical, divided in two fields, where the bright colour of the ornamented surface is divided from the dark blue background by a strong contour. The roses, tulips, leaves painted in black, green, blue and red are threaded on the stems of the plants as main- and side-motifs. The ornaments are accompanied by white and colourful dotting. The uniformly dark blue background is coloured usually by ochre or white, occasionally red panels. The name and the year is written between the painted fields, on chests it is the name of the owner, on benches and beds it is usually the name of the married couple. The greatest customers were Reformed people from the foot of the Zengő. One can find chests also from Komárom, since Komárom joiners spread their products not only in their neighbourhood, but loaded whole boats on the Danube, reaching as far as Vidin, Bulgaria. On the lines of the boats loaded with Komárom chests, more precisely in the Painted chest. R.n. 61.227.1 / h. 64 cms/ 1.112 cms / w. 57 cms. / Pécsvárad 15