# Historical Strata of Ornamental Folk Art

Although we know most about the last two centuries of Hungarian ornamental folk art, we can attempt to point out certain historical roots. We can do so on the basis of the strongly conservative nature of ornamental folk art, which preserved specific elements and forms throughout the centuries. Then again, examination of this type is also helped by the phenomenon that certain great historical and artistic periods reached the peasantry in many instances through transposition and only after centuries of delay. This delay and conservatism assures a slight, yet still present chance, for historical examination.

Thus we can mention as a survival from the pre-Conquest period various vessels and boxes made mostly of birch bark. Not so much their ornamentation as their form and the method of joining them together indicate great antiquity. We can classify into the same group one form of the powder horns made of stag horn, the exact equivalents of which {368.} served earlier for salt storage. The same can be said of those salt and grease containers, the etchings of which conjure up certain memories and rites of shamanism, even if they were made at the end of the last century or the beginning of the present by some herdsman of the Great Plain. Archeological finds prove that the ancestors of the Hungarians must have had some articles made of metal and leather, in which they kept the small implements that were used for making fire and for other purposes, utensils with which they carved a drinking vessel similar to today’s water-dipper (csanak), and the ornamented bone plates placed on their saddles. In both form and ornamentation, these utensils bear a remarkable resemblance to their 19th century equivalents.

The well developed metal and silver art of the Magyars was increasingly pushed into the background after the Conquest, yet part of the wealth of its motifs often returns in stone carving of Romanesque churches. Since the common people constantly saw these examples, they must certainly have made an effect on their art, especially that of carving. Furthermore, certain motifs from this period can still be found today. The history of the hewn chest (szökröny) can be traced all the way back to ancient times, but in Hungary it very likely gained ground during the Gothic period. The most characteristic elements of the notched ornamentation of wood can also be demonstrated from this time. Ornamental homespun may be seen on frescoes and on triptychs from the 13th century on. The starred and saw-toothed homespun patterns occur in this period and are a frequent motif in weaving to this day. The rich ornamentation of medieval fireplace tiles often echoes back to the past century.

Ornamental folk art preserved much from the elements, motifs, and creative methods of the Renaissance. Not only early 15th century influences are especially prominent, but also those of the 16th and 17th centuries, the so-called high Renaissance, which in some places of historical Hungary extended even to the beginning of the 18th century. While the influence can be well measured throughout the Hungarian linguistic territory, it was preserved longest in Transylvania, influencing almost to this day various branches of ornamental folk art. In this art, the rich ornamentation with winding stems (indás) and the many coloured varieties of different flowers and fruits played an especially important role. The Renaissance arrived primarily from the direction of Italy, bringing with it the carnation, the pomegranate, the vase and foliage, and the meander or wave-fret pattern called “big-snake” (nagy kígyó). These can be found on folk homespun and embroidery as well as on the pottery and fireplace tiles of the potters or woodcarvings of the herdsmen. Characteristically, these spread and gained ground primarily at the time when the Hungarians and their country, torn into three parts, were languishing under Turkish and Habsburg rule, experiencing some semblance of freedom only in Transylvania. The diffusion of Renaissance influence clearly shows with what relative uniformity peasant culture developed and was formed throughout the entire Hungarian linguistic region, even during these difficult times.

It is worth mentioning several such Renaissance motifs that exist harmoniously on certain creations of folk art almost to this day. Thus at {369.} some period, the rigidity of the Italian tendril motifs was loosened with charming ease by the creative ability of the Hungarian folk, while at other times, on certain woodcarvings and chairs of the Dunántúl, these motifs were condensed. The vase and foliage motif appears on the most varied materials, but perhaps fit best into the ornamentation of the embroidery of Kalotaszeg, although in such an altered form that we can hardly notice its origin. The people of Transylvania favour patterns made of quadrangles standing on their peaks, but their rigidity loosened in various ways. Renaissance star motifs occur plentifully both on embroideries and homespuns, and these stars are connected in such a way that to the viewer they seem to be practically a mantle of stars. Székely embroideries and homespuns form even the frame structure out of floral elements, of leaves, following the Renaissance method of construction. We could make a lengthy list of the Renaissance elements, forms, and structural techniques that can be recognized without doubt in certain works of folk art, yet in spite of their descent, these designs are still different. The people have transformed them, altered them and made them into their own, according to their own taste and their own working method.

Turkish influence affected folk art about the same time as did the Renaissance. Often it is impossible to separate the two influences from each other, since the Italian Renaissance liked to borrow from Byzantine sources, out of which the Turks also drew, willingly or unwillingly, not to mention the fact that certain contacts existed between Italy and Turkey that made the exchange of cultural goods possible. Thus we can find tendrils, carnations, and pomegranates on Turkish ornamentation also. Turkish merchants travelled not only through the conquered territories, but also got as far as Transylvania and Upper Hungary. Since Turkish goods were much in fashion in the 16th and 17th centuries, their colourful, rich merchandise was always bought and was welcomed. In the occupied areas, Turkish potters, tanners, and furriers bustled about and spread their ornamentations along with their goods. Large numbers of Turkish embroidering women worked in the courts of great Hungarian lords, embroidering rich floral patterns on their especially fine Turkish basic materials. The Hungarian serf women who worked alongside them could easily learn these motifs.

Beginning in the first half of the 17th century, the so-called Habáns, Anabaptists some of whom may have originally come from Italy, arrived in Hungary through Moravia, and settled in those parts of Hungary where they could enjoy relative religious freedom, or at least could hope to enjoy it. They were active in different areas of craft and were primarily considered to be excellent potters and iron workers. Although their settlements disappeared in the 18th century, their artistic influence can be seen in certain areas of Hungary to this day.

The next great stylistic periods of ornamental folk art affecting Hungary, the Baroque, the Rococo, and the Neo-Classic, did not in any way leave the same deep and unmistakable mark as did the Renaissance. Although peasant chairs with Baroque-style carved backs occur already in the second half of the 18th century in Transdanubia (cf. Ill. 217), and although this same influence can also be discovered in the painted {370.} furniture, in general traces of this influence can rarely be found in embroidery, woven textiles or the woodcarvings of herdsmen. This is all the more interesting since Baroque architecture spread to Hungarian towns and villages during the 18th century, when churches, castles, manor houses were built in the Baroque style. The inside furnishing of churches, the statues in the streets primarily of Wendelin, Florian, St. John of Nepomuk, which have survived to this day, wear upon themselves the unmistakable signs of the Baroque. Scattered elements of Baroque can be found mostly in the folk art of Transdanubia. The elements of the Rococo and Neo-Classicism are also extremely rare, although the latter can be discovered in the folk architecture of the Great Plain.

Hungarian folk art has also been affected by certain characteristics of the ornamental art of the surrounding peoples. From the south, especially along the Danube, strong South Slav influence prevailed in the 18th–19th centuries. This manifested itself in ceramics, embroidery, in the use of certain types of basic materials, and especially in folk jewellery. The Slovaks and the Germans of Upper Hungary excelled at lace making and homespun weavings and carried their goods to the Great Plain and to Transylvania, where people not only bought their ware, but also imitated them. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Moravian shepherds who came with the Merino sheep and settled primarily in Transdanubia, brought with them the technique of ornamenting with sealing wax, which the Hungarian herdsmen quickly learned and they embellished their own carvings with motifs and structural patterns of local origin. The products of certain potters show that through the guilds, some potters may have had contacts with Austria. In Transylvania, the Rumanians, who live together with the Hungarians, are especially adept at woodcarving, which is why the Hungarian and Rumanian carvings often resemble each other. Certain centres of pottery patterned and coloured their vessels differently for the Hungarians and for the Rumanians, and the Saxons of Transylvania. Yet these vessels were so similar that it is often not easy to tell which nationality made or used certain pieces.

However, despite all these influences and regional divisions, Hungarian ornamental folk art still has a certain unity, which can be recognized not only by the expert, but by the maker and user as well. A good example is the common colour-scheme, the use of plain and clear colours: blue, red and black. In most cases, the colours are not even mixed, but used individually. The great colourfulness of Hungarian folk art is relatively recent; it appeared only in the second half of the 19th century, and even then only in certain regions. Earlier, the composition was such that the ornaments were never crowded but were rather emphasized by the open spaces around them. The crowding of ornaments began a century ago (embroidery, woodcarving, painting, etc.) and today has reached to the point where some completely cover the entire surface with ornaments and flowers. Such, together with many others, are the characteristic features differentiating Hungarian folk ornamental art from the art of other peoples.

It is very difficult to review the entirety of Hungarian ornamental folk {371.} art. Still, if we venture to do this, we first of all must separate the various branches from each other on the basis of material and technique. And even so we must accept the possibility that repetition will occur because several kinds of materials and techniques may be used in creating particular objects. Some less important areas shall not be discussed, or shall be mentioned only in passing. Thus we will talk about woodcarving, furniture making, about homespun textiles and embroidery, the products of potters, and a few rarer and less known branches of ornamental folk art, such as the working and ornamenting of metal.