Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 31. (Budapest, 2017)

Zsuzsa MARGITTAL: La Fontaine’s Fables and Other Animal Tales in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts’ Collection

1. Settee with a scene from the ‘The Fox and the Stork’ (Lc renard et la cigogne 1/18) on the seat, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, inv. no. 53.1405.1.

a similar cartoon must have been used for the two backs, and the weaving technique used for one would have produced a mirror image of the depiction.12 With the exception of several minute details, the back of the third settee (Fig. 3) presents an exact analogy to that of a settee in a seven-piece suite of seat furniture from c. 1850, shown by Anthony’s Fine Art and Antiques of Salt Lake City13 (Fig. 4). The scenes on these pieces of furniture have red woven borders and decorative trim. Covered in Aubusson upholstery, this suite includes analogies to other scenes on similar furniture in the Museum of Applied Arts. Thus, while the seat cover of the second armchair (inv. no. 53.1399.1) displays a simpler landscaped background, the narrow vessel (its shape reminiscent of a lekythos) and the figure of the fox bear similarities to the

same elements in the Aubusson upholstery of the Salt Lake City suite (Figs. 5-6). The depiction of the ‘The Frogs Asking a King’ on the seat of the first armchair likewise finds an analogy in the Salt Lake City suite (Fig. 7) as does ‘The Wolf Turned Shepherd’ (Le loup devenu berger III/3) on the seat of the fourth settee (53.1406.1 )H (Fig. 8). The latter scene appears in a smaller version on the analogous armchair in the Salt Lake City suite (Fig. 9). That the same scene appears in an expanded or more succinct form depending on the size of the upholstered surface signals a kind of decorative, freer use or rendering of the motif that is faithful to both the narrative and the unity of the decorative surface. Moreover, the analogies discussed above suggest the pieces in the Museum of Applied Arts’ collection may belong to the same furniture set.

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