Unknown Artist
We present today's piece of furniture (yes! This is art too!) thanks to the Slovak National Museum, where the Furniture in the Museum exhibition is open at the SNM Museum of History at the Bratislava Castle from 28 June to 29 September 2019.
Joiners’ chests have been known throughout Europe since the Middle Ages. The dominant decorative motif of the chest on display is the heart, with the tulip standing out among the flowers. As the heart was the seat of life and a symbol of love in folk imagination, the motif of the heart is widespread in the Slovak folk ornamentation. The tulip was naturalized in Europe through Turkish influence in the 16th century. As an element of decorative ornamentation, it is widespread in folk art throughout Europe. In Slovakia, it is also commonly used in painted furniture.
Chests were used to store clothes, grain, and food. They were made of softwood boards, where a flat lid was attached to the chest by blacksmith’s hinges. Typically, they feature painted decoration with plant motifs, here and there complemented by an engraved decor or plastically twisted elements, rarely inlay. The furniture was painted by joiners to their own rules, which were kept as secrets by individual workshops. Decorative motifs were painted by glue and egg temperas, applied to the base paint. Painted furniture flourished in Slovakia from the late 18th century to the 1870s.
Beautiful isn't it?
P.S. If you look for interior design inspirations, check these 6 rooms from famous paintings brought to life and live like Van Gogh or Kandinsky!