The Saxon ceramics from Transylvania presents a special distinction and bear an easily recognizable mark: cobalt blue, a cobalt oxide that is difficult to procure and used here in pottery, starting with 1720. In the larger Transylvanian Saxon villages, there were one or two potters who worked for the needs of the village. In towns, however, pottery was a craft practiced under the sign of guilds, organizations that had specific customs and guild marks. The most important Saxon pottery centers were grouped in three areas: Brașov, Sibiu and Bistrița.
The wine recipient we present today has inventory no. 576 and it comes from the southern area of Transylvania (Sibiu-Brașov). On its bottom, there is an inscription made with cobalt: “ANO 1847”. The object entered the museum’s heritage in 1923, through the purchase of the Leitner collection which included 300 ceramic objects. It is possible that this recipient had a ritual role.
From the technical point of view, the object, having a height of 28 cm, was made on the potter’s wheel, it was burnt twice (being applied an oxidizing burn), engobe coating (applied a thin layer of kaolin, yellowish-white), glazed with lead enamel. The decoration was made by using the horn or the brush and it’s ordered in three alternative registers, comprising various motifs such as the tulip, flowers, acacia leaves or geometric motifs such as checkerboard or dot. The shape of the jar is double truncated, convex, with an applied handle that has a button at the lower end. The mouth is divided into two holes of different diameters – and the lip is bandy.
Text: Laura Cristina Pop – MET museographer
Photo: George Ciupag – MET, photo-video museographer