International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

Old A listro-Hungarian Peasant Furniture

FIG. 4 —CUPBOARD NORTPI MORAVIA
EARLY I9TH CENTURY
(Mdhrisches Gewerbe-Museum, Briinn)
foster national art and rescue it from oblivion;
hence the establishment of Fachschnlen (craft
schools) and local museums. Throughout the
provinces, through the zeal of the directors of
these museums, many old specimens of peasant
furniture—-more,
indeed, than one
would have ex-
pected — have
been rescued as
the result of their
explorations in
distant villages.
In Tyrol and
those parts where
peace has reign-
ed, the specimens
of furniture pre-
served are both
older and more
beautiful than in
those where the
“dogs of war”
have been let
loose time after
time for centuries.

In Tyrol many well preserved specimens of furni-
ture and household utensils dating from the middle
ages have been found, while in Hungary, Bohemia,
Moravia, Croatia, there is nothing earlier than the
end of the seventeenth century.
The difference between the races is shown in the
colouring and form of decoration. In Tyrol there
is much chip-carving, either coloured or stained,
for Tyrol is the land of carving. In Salzburg and
the Salzkammergut poker-work decoration is pre-
ferred ; while farther noith and east the colour-
ing is richer, particularly among the Slavs, whose
love of bright hues finds expression in every-
thing about them. In the villages of Moravia,
Croatia, Bohemia and Hungary every spring the
houses outwardly and inwardly receive new coats
of paint, rich in their colours but unvarying in the
designs for the particular district, which are always
respected and preserved from harm and innovation.
This decorative embellishment is always done by
the women while the men are at work in the fields.
The distribution of the furniture differed, and
does still differ, in the different districts. In the
living-room there is usually a corner cupboard,
or chest, holding the treasures of the household,
and upon it stands a cross or holy image, the
pictures—generally religious subjects—being hung
to the right and left of the cupboard. A rack
for the show plates and other articles occupies
the centre of another wall; a large cupboard, upon
which are placed more treasures, fills in a third;
while the fourth is taken up with a bench, which,
if the family be a large one, extends over parts

FIG. 5.-HUNGARIAN PEASANT FURNITURE
(Museum fur Volkskunde, Vienna)

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