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Traditional crafts

• Clay Processing
• Wood Processing
• Iron Processing
• Leather and Fur Processing
• The Home Made Textile Industry

The artisan products used in the traditional Transylvanian villages came either from the rural artisan's background or from the urban guilds. While the rural craftsmen were obliged by the guilds by juridical regulations to limit the use of local materials and archaic traditional techniques, the Transylvanian guild craftsmen cultivated a permanent contact with the professional background of their counterparts in Central Europe, during the Middle Age, taking benefits from all the technical innovations of the times.

Because the guilds did not succeed to get the absolute monopoly of the specific activities, the two categories of craftsmen divided the rural market as follows: the rural craftsmen sell cheaper to the peasants the most products for daily use while the guild craftsmen imposed themselves in the sector of the iron tools and the pieces with social prestige, fields in which the superior quality was on the first plan, in spite of the higher price.

The practice of the craft parallel to the agricultural activities as a way of completing the family income and the specialization of some whole villages in certain crafts (clay, wood, iron, fur processing etc.) represents phenomena characteristic to the rural Transylvanian artisans' background.

Clay Processing

The pottery used in the Transylvanian villages came from two sources: from the potters' background grouped in specialized villages who sold at markets especially unglazed pottery for everyday life and from the guild potters who sold mostly glazed decorative pottery but also pottery for use. The preference for some certain forms, techniques, motifs and colours generated styles characteristic to certain pottery centres, guild or rural, their distinctive personality surviving to the moment of the abolition of the guilds.

The first exhibition unit contains unglazed and partly glazed pottery for use, dating from the first quarter of the 20th century. The lower shelf contains red simple unglazed pottery of Roman tradition, characteristic to the Romanian centres Leheceni (1), Lelesti (2), Binis (3) and red unglazed pottery polished with the stone according to an archaic technique, characteristic to the Romanian centre Sacel (4). The polish of the clay before burning, the closing of the pores reduced the permeability of the walls and magnified the decorative effect.

The technique of decoration of the unglazed pottery by engobing is illustrated at a piece from a mixed pottery centre, Hungarian-Romanian: Vadu-Crisului (5). On the middle shelf there is exhibited black unglazed pottery, brushed with the stone, of pre-historical technical tradition, coming from a Romanian centre, Josenii Bargaului (6). The colour of this pottery is got by the use of a special technique of burning the pots, which consisted of closing the months of the oven in the last stage of the process, made in the absence of the oxygen. The upper shelf groups an everyday pottery from the centres Baia-Mare, Baie-Sprie (7), Tarnavita (8), Obarsa (9), Josenii Bargaului (10), which combines the advantages of the unglazed pottery (favouring of the evaporation, low price) with the ones of the glazed pottery (greater durability, water-proof, aesthetic plus).

The second exhibition unit contains glazed pottery coming from the guild potters' centres. On the upper shelf and the middle one there is grouped scratched pottery, of Byzantine influence, which respect both the characterised chromatic range consisting of yellow and green on white background and the more airy structure of the background in the centres Valea Izei (11) and Baia Mare (12). Although it kept the scratched decoration, the centre Vama (13) adopted a chromatic range in which red colour plays an outstanding role. Along the pottery of Vama there is exhibited glazed pottery from the centre Targu-Lapus (14). Finally, the lower shelf contains grazed pottery for use in the whole Transylvania (15), illustrated by pieces with various functions: strainer, high pots for milk, pot for carrying the food at the field, cooking pot, pans with legs for the hearth, funnel for wine.

The exhibition unit III contains glazed pottery from the guild Hungarian centres in Zalau (16), Turda and Iara (17), Trei Scaune (18), Satu Nou (19), Ocna Sibiului (20), Odorhei (21). The high cups - used generally for decoration and only occasionally for drinking wine - were introduced in Transylvania on the Saxon way (as the bilaterally flat pitchers), the open shape of the neck being adopted here later as a result of the contact to the oriental, Balkan shapes - copper recipients. The plants and birds motifs characteristic to these pieces emphasise the influences of the baroque decoration from the Central and Western Europe, being viewed in the agglomeration characteristic to the decorative motifs, too.

The exhibition unit IV presents a reconstruction of the open hearth, with assembled tiles made in the Hungarian centres Huedin and Almas (22), wooden tiles patterns (23), tiles (glazed and unglazed) from the centres Huedin and Secuime (24) and Saxon tiles from the centre Bistrita (25), all of them dating from the 19th century.

The exhibition unit V contains Haban pottery from the 17th and 18th century, famous in the epoch for its special quality of execution and for the special style of the figurative ornament. The Haban potters (Anabaptist Sect) were colonised in Transylvania, from Moravia, between 1621-1629, being settled in Vintul de Jos. Bearers of a superior pottery technology and of a decoration characteristic to Central and Western Europe, the Habans gave a strong impulse to the Transylvanian guild pottery, influencing the repertoire of shapes, decorative style and chromatics. On the first and second shelf, there are exhibited cups with metal lid, generally with plant and floral motifs but also human and animal, on white background (26), while on the second and third shelf there are exhibited pottery with blue background, of cobalt, and cylindrical shapes characteristic to Central Europe (27). The pitchers with narrative scenes on the lower shelf (28) do not have correspondent in the guild pottery of the period, while the group of narrow-necked tankards on the third shelf constitutes, stylistically speaking, a transition to the decorative pottery produced by them later (29).

The exhibition unit VI illustrates the traditional technique of modelling the clay pots by tools dated ante and post 1900: hoe (30) for getting the clay, shovel (31) for manipulation of the clay, mallet for making the clay homogeneous by hitting it (32), mezdrele (33) for cleaning the clay of impurities, spheres of cleaned clay, ready for modelling the vase (37), plates with dyestuff (38), brushes (39), horns for making the decoration (40).

The exhibition unit VII contains the Saxon pottery from the 18th and 19th century, made in the guild centres Bistrita (41), Saschiz (42), Chirpar (43), Sibiu (44), Brasov (45) and Satu-Nou (46). Each centre is distinguished by its own style but the quality of the materials (paste, enamel) and of the execution is impeccable for all of them.The scratching, the cobalt background and the elegant white drawing imprint a peculiar specificity of the centre Saschiz, the Chirpar centre distinguishes itself by the elegant shapes of its cups, the Sibiu centre by the airy elegant decoration and the Brasov centre by the baroque richness of the decoration.

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Wood Processing

The rural artisans dominated the rural market in the field of wood processing due to the richness of the first-class raw material and to the opportunity to replace, by community secular experience and by individual skill, technical superior gift of the guild artisans. There were whole villages specialised in carpentry, in furniture making, in wooden vessels making, in shingle making, in knitting items, and also isolated artisans who rendered profitable their products only in their residential village.

The exhibition unit VIII illustrates the craft of wood processing by presenting the following tools, dating ante and post 1900: the hand saw for cutting the woods (47), the raftsman's pick (48) necessary for handling the whole trunks, the axe for chopping the beams (49) and the rope-line for ruling the beams (50), the axe for finishing the chopped surfaces (51), the chair (52) for fastening the wooden piece that is processed with mezdrele of different shapes, exhibited on on the rack (53), the multi-functional compasses (54), the measure foot for staves of the wooden pots (55), the dinatoare (56), used for smoothing the inner side of the wooden vessels, the hook for drawing circles (57), the drill (58) for making holes, the horj (59) for ditching, the adze (60) for hollowing out and the jilau (61) for smoothing the plane surfaces.

The exhibition unit IX illustrates two different techniques of artistic processing of the wood, presented in the rural Transylvania of the 19th century. The Maramures gate (62) was executed of oak by a artisan-peasant and contains the sculptured motif of the rope, organized into a geometric archaic structure (X, circles), while the next small wardrobe (63) that comes from a Saxon peasant interior was executed of fir tree by a guild joiner, and was decorated by painting, containing figurative motifs, inspired from the artistic, urban cult repertoire. The general tendency in the rural Transylvanian medium to use the wood because this was always available, even when the use of iron would be required, is evident in the case of the two windows with decorative wooden lattices (64, Mera), which flank the forged iron lattices (65, Trascau), available only to rich peasants.

The techniques of ornamentation by painting and carving (notching) are found at the pieces included in the exhibition unit X, dated before and after 1900. The superior shelf contains a recipient for salt (66), spices (67) and gourds for carrying liquids (68), decorated by painting, while the inferior shelf contains boxes for razors and peanut crackers (70), with notched geometric ornamentation. The recipients on the median shelf (gourds and recipients for crushing and storing pepper) were made by lathing/fashioning, a technique spread rather in the guild society (71-72).

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Iron Processing

The exhibition unit XI is dedicated to the trade of iron processing. Unlike the smith in every village, who was limited to mould the iron (raw or resulting from the used tools by forging, the smiths from the specialized villages (Trascau, Bihor) had in addition technical knowledge necessary to get the iron from ore.

The unit contains the following tools, dated at the end of the 19th century, used for iron getting and processing: miner's axe (73), bushel (74) for measuring the ore, bellows for raising the temperature in the hearth (75), big tongs (76) for handling the crude iron pieces (that result from the ore melting), anvil and sledge hammer (77) for moulding the hot iron, fixed with the tongs (78). There are exhibited the stages of making a hoe (79), and the axe exhibited (80) illustrates the finished product having the craftsman's marks.

The following exhibition unit (XII) is structured in three thematic groups. The first group contains products of the smith craftsmen: cai de vatra (81), necessary to support the logs that were burning in the open hearth and (in pair) for supporting the pots used for cooking, stirrups (82) and cramps for footwear (mate) used in wintertime (83). The second group includes pieces that illustrates the peasant processing of the tin (moulding in patterns, intarsia) in the Padureni area and decorative finished products, specific to the area: pan for moulding the tin (84), stone patterns (85) for buckles and for decorative elements used to belts, wooden pattern for spindle prisnele (86), spindles with intarsia (87), knives and cases with intarsia (88), belts with tin elements (89). The third group contains pieces used in getting the gold from the ore: duda for keeping the wicks necessary to start explosions (90), duda for fixing the candles necessary in the galleries (91), a horn for storing the gun powder (92), two earthen lamps (opaite) that functioned with oil or tallow used in the galleries (93), horns for keeping the gold (94), balance for weighing the gold and capacity measure for gold (95).

The exhibition unit XIII details the process of getting the gold from the mine in the Apuseni Mountains, presenting the drill used to holes in the rock (96) by beating it with the vantalau (97), the fuituitor for closing the exploration hole (98), the mine needles for putting the wicks in the hole (99), the case for keeping the gun powder (100), the miner's axe for detaching the stones (101), the hammer (pusca) for breaking the rocks (102), the hammers (palacrau) for breaking the stone (103), hand mill for crushing the ore (104), saitroc used to separate the gold from the rest of the ore by washing it (105). In the centre there is exhibited a miniature of a hydraulic stamp, (106) for processing the gold ore.

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Leather and Fur Processing

The exhibition unit XIV presents holiday sleeveless fur coats executed by furriers from various centres, before and after 1900 and illustrates the structure and the way of ornamentation of those. The upper shelf contains a Romanian sleeveless fur coat from Sibiu region (107), with a cut out that illustrates the oldest way of using the sheep fur for dressing the body: after bending it vertically, the space for the neck was cut up in its centre and the flanks were closed, one by sewing, the other with straps. This type of sleeveless fur coat, used in Transylvania especially by the Romanians who named it 'bottomed sleeveless fur coat', could be found as a peculiar variant with cut-out hems at Saxons, too (108). The ornamentation of the fur with thin wire wool or silk by embroidery with needles of a special shape is exemplified by the central sample on the first shelf (109) and by the exhibited money bag (110), and the ornamentation of the leather by punching, practiced by the Saxon craftsmen is illustrated by the wooden stanza exhibited on the middle shelf (111).

In the show case, there are exhibited also short sleeveless fur coat, executed on demand in the Romanian furriers' center Sat-Sugatag (112) and in the Hungarian centres Savadisla (113) and Mera (114). The lower shelf includes a furrier's notebook with models (115), a pattern (116) and iron tools used for cutting up and perforate the kid leather strips that decorate the sheepskin coats (117).

The exhibition unit XV includes inter-war tools used for sheep fur processing (scafa for cleaning of the fur after drying (118), chair with scythe used for the same role (119), hook for stretching the fur (120), tiglici for stretching the fur on the frame (121), stump (122) for for stretching the fur caps and tools for cattle leather processing: grater for leathers (123), shoemaker's knives (124), jointer for smoothing the leather (125), tool for smoothing the leather for boots (126).

The separation of the furriers (who used the sheep fur) and the tanners (who used the cattle leather) was forced by different characteristics of the two raw materials. The technique of cattle leather processing being more complex, the number of rural furriers overtook a lot the number of the rural furriers, who were strongly in competition with the guild craftsmen.

The exhibition unit XVI contains pieces of individual use made by tanners at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century: two wide belts, ornamented by punching, embroidering and application of metal tacks (127-128), a narrow belt locked up with brass buttons (129), leather bags for shepherds decorated with applications of brass and leather knitting (130-131), two sheaths for knife (132-133), money bags (134, 135, 136, 137, 138) or tobacco (139). The preference conferred to the brass ornaments is explained by their resistance to oxidation, during the often display to the bad weather. The lower shelf contains a knitted whip of leather strips (140) and two awls (141), one of ornamented wood, the other of iron, used for making holes in the cattle leather with which the men cut out the opinci (peasant sandals) that were made by men for the family members.

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The Home Made Textile Industry

The making of the textile fabrics by women in the household that are necessary fort he family represents a feature of the old Transylvanian village. Because within the peasant household there were passed all the stages of a complete technical process (hemp and linen cultivation and processing, wool getting and processing, practicing of the spinning and weaving) there was used the term of 'home made textile industry', which did not emphasized, unfortunately exactly its particular aspect generated by the fact that the finished products were designated almost at all to the family use, not to selling them.

The exhibition unit that shows the mentioned technical process is divided in many sectors.

A first sector (XVII) contains the tools used for processing the raw material (hemp and wool) and transformed it in a thread: the brake for crushing the hemp stems (142), the ripples for separation of the wooden rests (143), the combs for cleaning the bundle and obtain the woollen hair (144), the combs for the wool (145) and distaffs (146), one of it containing a bundle of hemp, the other a flock of wool.On the platform of the second sector (XVIII) there are exhibited the tools necessary to the preparation of the thread for weaving, beginning with the spindle (147), with which the thread was unwound from the spindle on reeling device (148) or on winches (149) of different kinds and finishing with warper (150), on which the threads were arranged in order to assemble the weaving loom. In the centre of this sector there are grouped the tools that illustrate four ancient techniques of using the fibres: rasuca for twisting the strings (151), fork for knitting the cords (152), the separator of cords, necessary to knit the ropes (153) and the small loom for belts, the primary shape of the weaving loom (154). The central panel contains pieces of the same technical context, having as a common element the rich decor, explicable by their social additional function: they were gifts made by the boys for the girls which they were in love to (spindles - 155, shuttles to lead the thread - 156, tindeici for stretch the linen during weaving - 157, ells for measuring the textile fabrics - 158). There is placed here also a brush for greasing the threads before weaving (159).

The same social function, which doubles the practical function, explains the rich decoration of the distaffs, exhibited in two exhibition units, separated by a recess in the wall with a distaff that has a complex decorative structure.

The left exhibition unit (XIX) contains waist distaff grouped according to the morphological criterion: a series derived from a simple round stick, by waist setting off in order to support the bundle (160), another series derived from a stick with median curved branches (161), the last series containing flat pieces with a developed decorated middle till the stage of large wings, rich decorated (162). Used for spinning outside (during watching over the beeves or even during walking), the waist distaffs were mentioned by many foreign medieval travellers as an uncommon element into a context that underlines the diligence of the Transylvanian peasant woman.

The right exhibition unit (XX) contains distaffs used by women inside the house, pieces with a morphological evolution similar to the previous one to a point (developed from simple branches - 163 or with a median support of branches - 164), a new shape being the short distaff with one foot for the woman to sit down in order to fix it to the chair during spinning (165). The other distaffs - longer - were fixed by catching between knees, propped in the beam of by introducing it into an orifice at the edge of the bench. Incised, jagged, sawed, the decoration of the Romanian distaffs contains almost exclusively geometric motifs while the Hungarian and Saxon distaffs contain also plant motifs, notched or painted.

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