Antimacassar
Antimakassars (from the Greek ἀντί = "against" and Makassar , is meant against hair oils from Makassar ) are fabric covers for furniture armrests, which are intended to protect the actual cover of the upholstery from contact with the user's hair or the fat it contains .
They were mainly used between around 1850 and the beginning of the 20th century - from 1865 they were also common on theater seats - but can also be found in rudimentary form as protective covers over some airplane or bus seats and in rail traffic. In the transport sector, anti-macassars are almost exclusively provided with the transport company's logos (embroidery, imprints) today. As a rule, the protective covers are replaced after each trip.
The original antimakassars for private use were mostly made at home, but they could also be purchased. The fabrics and manufacturing techniques varied widely; The white specimens with a lace edge are most famous today.
The name goes back to the macassar oil , which was extracted from the fruits of the Koesambi trees ( Schleichera trijuga ) in the vicinity of the Indonesian city of Makassar and was used as the basis for hair oil, which was widely used in the 19th century.
The antimakassars find literary mention in Theodor Fontane's novel Mathilde Möhring ; here, her absence moves the student Hugo Großmann to lodge with the Möhring family. The anti-Makassars are mentioned here together with oil print pictures and are evidently an attribute of petty-bourgeois living culture, which Großmann has a deep dislike for. In his autobiography, Hubert von Herkomer counts the "ubiquitous" anti-macassar items among the tasteless furnishings of Victorian households. In Erich Maria Remarque's novel Three Comrades , the textile furniture protectors are still part of a complete bridal outfit in petty bourgeois circles. Here, however, the foreign word anti-macassar is no longer used, but only spoken of lace doilies.