Ikvainé Sándor Ildikó - Sz. Tóth Judit: Évszámos tárgyak Pest megye népművészetében (PMMI kiadványai – Kiállítási katalógusok 6. Pest Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Szentendre, 2003)

Angol és német nyelvű összefoglaló

Dated objects in the popular culture of pest county The popular art of Pest County - with the exception of that of the Galga-region and the market towns of the Great Plain - is hardly known. Ethnographic research has great debts and great chances in this field. The exhibition presenting dated objects and the related catalogue can be considered as a preliminary study to the monograph titled "The popular art of Pest County" being prepared. Pest County lies at the meeting point of the Great Plain and the hilly country. Owing to its geographical features it can be divided into various smaller parts: the Börzsöny countryside, the surroundings of Vác, the Galga-region, the Tápió-region, the surroundings of Pest, the Csepel Island, the Buda Hills, the Danube Bend and the Szentendre Island. This region has always been the meeting place of various peoples arriving on the Danube. In the area, several nationalities, South-Slavs, Germans and Slovakians, have co-existed for centuries. The majority of people lived in villages though the existence of the market towns of the Great Plain - Nagykőrös, Cegléd, Abony or Vác - was determining. The popular culture and art of this multi-colour county are diversified and show the influence of the surrounding ethnic groups (Palots - from North-Eastern Hungary - and Jazygian people) as well as that of the major regions (the Great Plain, the Little Plain and Transdanubia). The practice of using inscriptions in popular culture originates from an upper-middle class fashion though it only became common after the introduction of compulsory elementary education (1777) and the general spread of reading and writing. The earliest inscribed objects in Pest County are from the middle of the 18th century: they are planes and hope chests. The name inscribed on them merely denotes possession, while the date has a reminding function. Inscriptions became widespread on occasional objects in the 19th century. Apart from the fabricant and the presentee's names, these objects often have some kind of dedication and besides the inscription of the year - that of the month and the day as well. It is very rare that you find longer texts - with the exception of a few types of objects. At Roman Catholic areas, women used to sew religious or suppliant sentences on tablecloths and sheets. The catafalque covers with several-verse, Gothic-letter texts made by the Germans of Nagybörzsöny are unique. In the middle of the 19th century, the inscription itself became a decorative element on furniture and carvings. By the beginning of the 20th century, the letters on the textiles of some regions had been stylised to irrecognizability and turned to be independent motifs. Most of the tools used by countrymen are simple. The shapes were formed through generations to what made possible the perfect work and was able to serve several descents. A suitable tool, a personal objects was often decorated by the maker for his own pleasure: the handle of a saw wore the form of a foal, and a cabbage-shredder was heart-shaped. It is the form that carries aesthetics. The objects elaborated with such a special care sometimes had the date and even the initials inscribed on them. Most of these dated/inscribed items were made for a special occasion (engagement or wedding) and they usually bear other decorations as well. They are the tools and belongings that are generally listed within the field of classical ornamentation, that is, "objectproducing popular art". Several marked objects of various origin could be found among the personal belongings of the countrymen living in the villages and among those of the middle-class people living in the market-towns of Pest County - items either made by craftsmen: village handymen, home-workers or ones purchased from mongers. The local joiners, carpenters, smiths, weavers and other craftsmen mostly made their inscribed products to order ("art of crafts"). The earliest dates can be found among this group of items. The master inscribed only his initials on the tools. It was only on the inner side of the cover of 18th century hope chests that the owner's name was presented. Certain groups of tools (farming tools: yokes, forks, rollers etc.) were obtained by the countrymen through trucking with people from the neighbourhood. These objects were usually marked with a date or a name afteiwards. Pottery and chests came to the county through commerce. Specialists working occasionally, home-workers, village handymen and shepherds made the most particularly elaborated - mainly - wooden objects which became presents or items for personal use belonging to the range of "individual folk art". On dated razor cases, distaffs, rollers, whetstone sheaths and textiles you can almost always find the initials of the maker, and later his whole name, as the manifestation of creative consciousness. The products of object-producing folk art, pieces of furniture, wooden, horn and metal objects, ceramics and textiles are listed in chronological order, with the detailed description of each item beside the photos. The primary purpose of the catalogue is to call the attention of the profession and the public to Pest County and to make available for comparative research the most valuable collection of its folk art.