Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)
Zsolt SOMOGYI: Pál Horti's Late Works in the United States of America
mentioned catalogue in 187 photographs augmented by sixteen photographs of interiors. On the basis of inlay motifs known from drawings published in the periodical Magyar Iparművészet, we can state with certainty that of these artefacts a dining room and a library - twenty pieces of furniture in all - were designed by Horti. Made from ‘Quartered Church Oak’, their embellishment is described as ‘Marquetry Panels of Imported Austrian Colored Woods’. For the dining room two different types of sideboard were made, without superstructure: one with an oval mirror above the body of the piece and the other with a mirror featuring straight sides. In both cases the body consists of drawers and shelved parts covered by doors. On the doors - and on other parts of the suite also - we find the already- described eight-petalled flower and line inlay. The dining table is round and supported by five legs, with the fifth placed beneath the centre of the table-top as a support. The chairs and armchairs are slatted and have seats covered with red morocco. The suite is completed by wall cabinets and small cupboards. Of these the ‘cellarette’, a sketch of which is to be found among the designs published in Magyar Iparművészet, deserves mention. This piece, which is on a square base, consists of two sections joined together by columns. It functioned as a drinks cabinet. The upper part was used to store glasses and bottles, with part of a side folding down to act as a shelf. These pieces of storage furniture show the scale of Horti’s imaginativeness. The armchair, rocking chair, sofa, writing table, glazed bookcase, and magazine rack that make up the library suite were likewise made from oak with the use of woods imported from Austria. They, too, are embellished with four-petalled floral marquetry inlay. Especially deserving of men8. Detail of the inlay-decoration of a chair belonged to the dining-room furniture of the Shop of the Crafters. Designed by Pal Horti, Cincinnati, about 1906. Private collection tion is the table, the top of which is a square with the four corners cut off. Its slanting, board-like legs are embellished with openwork and marquetry inlay. They are linked together by broad, flat cross-slats placed diagonally. The dining chairs are supplied with seats made from Spanish sheepskin leather. These were available in dark red, dark green or dark brown. To both suites belonged a freestanding clock. In the case of the dining-room suite, a piece entitled the ‘Crafters Clock’ (No. 331) was offered to the public. The main part of the case, which stands on a low support, tapers towards the top, while the upper part is hexagonal. The clock face is treated with copper to make it look old; the clock hands and the numbers on the face are brass. The field above the clock face, and also the (likewise copper-covered) sides of the case’s upper part, is inlaid with circular pieces of glass. Inlay characteristic of the dining-room suite features on the clock case’s door, which conceals the weights and the pendulum. For the library suite, Horti designed the ‘Viennese Clock’ (No. 339). On the plain, block-like freestanding clock a ledge divides the case into two. On this 115
