Török Károlyné Miszori Marianna (szerk.): Virággal ékes. A népi bútorfestés hagyományai (Zalaegerszeg, 2012)
Festett bútorok
The term folk furniture painting itself carries the meaning that is the decorative painting of furniture, used in a home. Of course the furniture is not the same as today’s 21st century furniture. The furniture in those old houses from the last century was suited for the form of life back then. The furniture served people. The chair was painted most commonly. The painted chair with bun They called it the chair with bun that had a meaning. The chair’s backrest top represented a woman’s head with the bun, that is why the chair is called the chair with bun or otherwise the talking chair. Why the talking chair? Because of its emplacement. Indeed, the location of the chairs gave away important information for the guest entering the house. If the chair’s buns were side by side complete peace ruled in the house, but if the buns were facing each other than there was a conflict or resentment between the lord and the lady of the house, so the guest knew it fits to leave the house as soon as possible. The base colour of the chair was green, blue, brown or dark purple, the patterns were multiple. Sometimes they painted a framework or an outline on the back of the chair, but often it was left out and painted with blossoms only. The painted flowers, trees of life grew from tulips, hearts and most commonly from vases and jugs. They also painted the year in which the chair was made or the initials of the person who owned it. The table The perhaps most important piece of furniture in the house was also painted. The table with a ‘’pantry” below it was famous, which was not used only for food serving but also for storage. It had an enormous drawer in which the homemade bread covered in bread dress. They also stored the tableware, kitchen tools and tablecloths in there. The colour of the table matched the chairs around it. The tabletop was painted with patterns, here as well in a framework or it was left out and only flower or plant patterns, tendrils, tulips, roses, carnation patterns, trees of life, hearts. They often painted the patters in the four corners of the table. The patterns were the same or different or the diagonal patterns matched. The sideboard The sideboard was an important piece of furniture in the kitchen. The top part was for storing plates and glasses like the later credenza. The two drawers below were for storing tableware, larger cooking pots were kept in the lower section that had two doors. The sideboard is now replaced with a cabinet. The sideboard’s rails, drawers, the front part of the furniture was painted with floral patterns. Because they had to paint the thinner parts also they commonly used continuity patterns such as leaves, tiny flowers depicting wavy stems and lines, dotted with tendrils, spirals. The housewife’s initials and the year of creation was also commonly painted on the sideboard. The emphasized pattern was painted on the double doors, usually the tree of life pattern which symbolized the family, the unity. The wardrobe The big wardrobe with double doors in the "clean” room was rarely painted. Usually, one or maybe two wardrobes were included in the rustic house. The clothes, lingerie, fabrics, flax and hemp made sheets, towels and the bedding were kept in it. When painting a large piece of furniture they used the method of dividing into sections or caskets. The caskets had patterns of various and identical colourful flowers or trees of life. The large surface gave the opportunity of every family member to be portrayed in the form of floral motifs. 26
