A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1979 (Debrecen, 1981)

Néprajz - Cs. Tábori Hajnalka: Painted Peasant Furniture from the 17th–18th Centuries in the Déri Museum

Hajnalka Cs. Tábori PAINTED PEASANT FURNITURE FROM THE 17th-18th CENTURIES IN THE DÉRI MUSEUM In addition to the fine masterpieces of the well-known joiners' gild in Debrecen, approximately half a dozen various pieces of furniture belong to the collection of the Déri Museum that represent the earliest period of painted furniture in the country. These valuable pieces are, unfortunately, only representatives of a type of peasant furniture, as most of them were completely destroyed during the stormy history of the country. Despite their scanty survival, they represent the type of peasant furniture that — on the basis of how they were made, painted and the kind of ornamentation — belong to the plainland type of late-Renaissance peasant furniture-making. The makers of this furniture were either members of various gilds or itinerant joiners who made and also painted their pieces with paint of their own making. These masters were probably also the makers of pews and other requisites in 17th-18th century churches and the painters of church interieurs, especially of ceilings. It is attributable to these masters that owing to their activities the flower-motifs of Renaissance ornamentation reached the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the peasant population of Hungarian plainland towns. These Renaissance motifs were then gradually modified through the adoption of more and more popular (folk) elements which, at the same time, contributed to their survival. The fact that such pieces as a painted chest from 1633, an armchair from 1694 and various other items from the 18th century exist testify to the fact that the important influences in applied arts reached the various layers of contemporary Hungarian society, even the cívis (town-dwelling landowner) population of the town of Debrecen, who were deeply against any kind of gay-coloured ornamentation, to survive in their homes and influence the popular culture of the country for many years to come. This paper gives a detailed description of a bench with two arm-rests which, after having been repainted a long time ago, was kept in the store-room of the museum for a long time. Some patches of the original painting, visible under the cracking and peeling second coat of paint, gave us the idea to examine the first layer after removing the second one. Our assumption was proved by the careful restoration of the bench, and now this bench can be seen in its original late-Renaissance form among the pieces of 18th century painted peasant furniture in the Déri Museum of Debrecen. 280