EXPLORE COLLECTION

The Adriatic type has a flat lid, short legs in the form of stylized lion’s paws and a carved front. Its four vertical sides are bound together using interlocking joints protruding from the edges of the sides, i.e., the so-called dovetails. In the area of Dalmatinska Zagora, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, chests of smaller measurements were more widespread, allowing for easier transport of belongings and people’s mobility. It appears in the shape of a cube with a lid, the sides of which are joint with metal nails, so that the front and back edges of the lid go over the edges of the sides. 

The chests in the Furniture Collection exhibit a high level of intermingling of different stylistic and cultural influences. They belong to folk production, visual folklore, which at its core admitted diverse influences, gradually reworking and adapting them to its own spatial and temporal circumstances. Thus, the Dalmatian chest evolved into a separate variant, in addition to the carved front, characterized by the adorned inside of the lid, decorated with painted motifs of a vase with flowers and little birds. Such chests were most likely manufactured in local workshops from mid-18th to mid-19th century. Alongside these variants that existed in use almost simultaneously, in the late 19th century, there are chests manufactured by local carpenters, characterized by linear carvings of geometric patterns or stylized botanical motifs that could also be painted. The modest paintwork was probably done by anonymous individuals, woodcarvers and painters in woodworking workshops. Such chests remained in villages and smaller communities up until the beginning of the 20th century. In Dalmatinska Zagora, it was common for the chests to be modestly painted on the outside or decorated with hot iron branding.

Unlike Dalmatian chests, in the 19th century, there are painted chests in the area of Baranja and Međimurje, influenced by Central European traditions of painting furniture with floral motifs and flower wreaths. They were most likely sold at fairs and could be painted using stencils by the so-called travelling painters. Chests made of hand-cut boards were manufactured by village chest makers, usually on commissioned for their acquaintances and cousins. Some data indicates that the village masters making certain pieces of furniture often supplied chests for the whole area. For example, the famous chests that were manufactured in the village of Kuče in Turopolje were known in neighbouring villages as kučka chests, whereas, in Hrvatsko Zagorje, there were several houses in the village of Kraševec involved in the production of chests. That the manufacture of chests was very developed in the area is attested by the fact that the rural population from the outskirts of Zagreb acquire their chests at the fair in Ivanec. 

The lid and front side of the chest were decorated using geometric motifs (straight, vertical, slanted and zigzag lines, circles and rosettes). Some of the chests were additionally decorated by painting, so the paint would highlight the basic lines of the ornament. In the area of Slavonia and Baranja, there were chests decorated with two-tone circles and rosettes. Chests of this sort were also found in Istria, where the lid and front of the chest would be divided into two imaginary halves, with diagonal lines that form a large diamond-shaped centre. Chest decoration and manufacture underwent many phases of development, while the decorations changed depending on the “fashion” of a particular region and period.