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2023.02.24 February Artefact of the Month Saxon Wine Jug

Pottery of Transylvania and Partium
Selection of our 2021 and 2022 Acquisitions

In his book, György Domanovszky, one of the most important summarizers of the decorative arts, emphasized that Transylvania was a special area of ceramic art. While in other parts of Europe regional styles developed, often produced in large quantities by a whole region with minor variations, in Transylvania there were many small pottery villages and large guild centres, almost all of which had their own style. Most of them produced common utensils and cooking vessels.

Although several studies on Transylvanian pottery have been published in recent decades, most of them on representative ornamental pottery, the culture of utilitarian pottery and the changes in the 20th century remain rather unknown.

For this reason, the Székely National Museum has focused on collecting the products of the centres that can still be identified. This goal was greatly helped by the significant donation of artefacts by the collector József Sipos, the selfless donations of some collectors, and the collection of objects containing inscriptions still in the field or in the possession of dealers.

Our exhibition is intended as a feedback.

We are very grateful for the help of all those who have enriched the collections of the Székely National Museum.



Artefact of the month - Saxon wine jug

The most important type of vessel in Saxon pottery was the large wine jug. Archaeological excavations and the seals of Saxon pottery guilds show that the double-mouthed wine jug was a typical product of early Saxon pottery. The most representative and largest jug was used by the guild as its own symbol and decorated with symbols of the craft. According to István Csupor's research, in addition to the guild jug, guilds also used medium-sized, less decorated jugs. The guild's most important celebration was the initiation of the guild's men, which was celebrated with a feast. The large guild jug was placed in the middle of the table, and the smaller wine jugs were used to fill the glasses of the wine-tasting masters.

Larger jugs, often 40-50 cm high, were also made for the Saxon neighbourhood. At family celebrations (baptisms, weddings, funerals), members of the neighbourhood could borrow them and they were also used at neighbourhood meetings. Sometimes families also bought a 30-35 cm wine jug to bring wine up from the cellar.

The products of the Saxon guilds are very difficult to identify. This can be explained by the fact that for a long time the Saxons had a guild union, with its headquarters in Sibiu, to which the guilds of the whole of the Kingdom belonged. The Sibiu style was thus imprinted on the products of almost all the guilds. According to Albert Eichhorn's research, the Saxon guilds of Burzenland did not make wine jugs, so our green, splashed 19th century jugs are probably also a product of West Königsboden Saxon pottery.