Settee (part of a sitting suite)

Furniture Collection

Accession Nr.: 55.1227.1
Date of production:
late 19th century
Place of production: Hungary
Materials: limewood; machine-made tapestry
Techniques: carved; gilded; upholstered
Dimensions:
height: 97,5 cm
width: 135 cm
depth: 63 cm
The sofa stands on four fluted, cylindrical legs. Its upholstered seat is slightly curved at the front and rounded at the back. The lying oval back is also upholstered, in a carved frame, which is carved with leaves all round and decorated with a ribbon ornament springing from a bunch of roses at the top. The arm supports are carved with bay and acanthus leaves, the arm rests are upholstered. The upholstery show pastoral scenes. The structure of the armchairs is very similar to the settee its back is almost circular. The upholstery of the seat shows a landscape with a bridge, the back is decorated with a shepherdess figure. Both the carving and the structure of the suite is extremely refined. According to Barbara Mundt (see Mundt 1981) Louis XVI furniture made at the end of the 19th century were fairly light and deli-cate and were popular all over Europe at that time. Furniture similar to this suite were made for the interiour of the royal palace in the workshop of Miksa Gelb and Son. (see Alajos Hauszmann: A királyi vár belső kiképzése es iparművészeti felszerelése /The Interior Design and Artistic Equipment of The Royal Palace/. In. MI 1903 pp.161- 180.)

Literature

  • a kiállítást rendezte: Batári Ferenc, Vadászi Erzsébet: Historizmus és eklektika. Az európai iparművészet stíluskorszakai. Iparművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 1992. - Nr. 55. (Kiss Éva)