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The traditional Romanian pottery is one of the most beautiful in Europe.
An Ancient Tradition
The art of pottery is one of the most ancient Romanian crafts, as proved by the beautiful ceramic objects dating from the Neolithic era, the period of a blooming civilization.
In this context, the Cucuteni culture (named after a village situated North-West of Iasi) stands out. This was described by an American researcher as “unique to 5000 year old Europe”. The pots that belong to this period have rounded shapes, of great diversity, being richly painted. The main motifs are the spiral, the meander, the triangle, all painted in red, with black outlines on a white background. Beside dishes, there were also manufactured human-shaped figurines (representing especially females) used for religious purposes. The Cucuteni ceramics is of very high quality and is one of the most admired in the whole world for its shapes and decorations.
 Ceramic objects were also crafted during the Boian culture (with much straighter lines and meander decorations, realized with white clay) and the Hamangia culture, mostly known for its human-shaped figurines (the most famous being the statues “The Thinker” and “Woman Resting”, which can be found today in the Constanta Museum of Archaeology). In Walachia (Southern Romania) the Gumelnita culture had spread. The pots created during this culture were decorated through incisions, the main motif still being the spiral.
The Celts have introduced the potter’s wheel to the Dacian territory around 300 BC. The Celtic motifs can still be found in the actual Romanian ceramics.
The Making of Ceramic Pots
Pottery is a tiring work where strength, skill and knowledge are involved. Any mistake can result in the destruction of the pot. Usually this job was reserved for men, women only taking part in the decoration process.
Men brought home clay from clay pits, kneaded it with their hands, feet or a big wooden mallet, while mixing it with water. The resulted paste was cleaned of impurities, sliced into thin pieces and then molded, using the potter’s wheel.
The wheel consists of two discs, a smaller one in the upper part and a bigger one in the lower part, connected by a vertical axle. The ball of clay is put on the upper disc, while the potter spins quite fast the lower one with his foot, thus obtaining circular shapes.
The molding process requires remarkable skills and high speed because the paste mustn’t dry out (sometimes the pot is done in as fast as 40-50 seconds).
After the molding, pots are left to dry out for a few days in the shade and then are burnt in special ovens, but not before they are decorated and sometimes enameled (only the inner part and the margins).
Black and Red Ceramics
Depending on the way the ceramics is burnt, it can be black or red.
Black ceramics originates in Dacia, being of great importance in the pre-Roman period. In order to obtain it, the paste is subjected to an incomplete burn. The pots are burnt in a conoid shaped pit, up to 1.5 meters deep. Next to this pit there’s another one, linked by a small canal where the fire is burning. The pots are put in the first pit. When they are well heated and become red, they are covered with a thick layer of moist clay, also used to fill the small canal. Thus, the burning process continues without oxygen and the pots become grey or black.
The black ceramics is still manufactured today in Romania and is also known as “Marginea pottery” (named after a village in the Suceava County).
Red ceramics, obtained by burning it in an oxidizing system, borrowed some elements from the Roman culture. To obtain this color, the pots are dipped after drying off into a coloring substance obtained from a special clay (called “huma”) mixed with water. Then the pots are hand-painted.
The red ceramics (enameled or not) can be found on 90% of the Romanian territory.
Decorating Techniques
In the case of black ceramics, the decoration is done by polishing the pot with a special kind of stone. Gray marks are left by the stone on the not yet burnt object, blended with the black metallic color of the pot.
Red ceramics can be decorated using one of the tree techniques described below.
The most wide-spread consists of using a horn with a goose feather attached to the tip. The color drips through the horn and the feather, creating some sort of a pen. A fine design can be obtained by using a small stick and a few wild boar hairs.
Another way of decorating red pottery is by scratching the pot with a pointed metal object, after dipping it in a coloring substance.
The third technique, found especially in the Southern Romania, consists of applying some cords on the paste.
Natural Colors
Ceramic pots are painted using natural obtained colors, as it is known for generations.
Red is obtained from a high iron oxide concentrated soil (named “ruseala”) which can be found in the valleys, at a 2-3 meters depth. This soil is left to dry, it is grinded and then mixed with water, thus obtaining a dense liquid which is strained, resulting a glossy substance.
Black is also obtained from a special soil, which can be found after the rain.
Peasants obtain the green color by burning copper wires in the oven. The resulted slag is grinded and mixed with clay.
White is obtained from lime mixed with white stone, burnt and grinded.
Yellow can be obtained from Medgidia clay (in the south-east Romania), mixed with “ruseala”.
The colors of ceramic pots follow ancient traditions. Red ceramics from the South-West of the country has Roman influences. The yellow, green and white colors used in various centers indicate Byzantine traditions.
Motifs and Symbols
Decorative motifs are mainly geometrical, but there can also be found plants, birds and animals.
The triangle is the oldest decoration motif, being present on prehistoric ceramics. The triangle appears under various forms – wolf tooth (several triangles having the same size) or saw (alternated up and down triangles).
The spiral can be found especially on Cucuteni and Boian ceramics, being made of white clay. It’s an ancient motif, which appeared years later in the Western Europe.
The waved line can be wide, with other decorative motifs between the waves, or it can be narrow and simple.
The most used vegetal motif is the fir twig, which first appeared on prehistoric pots and later on black and red ceramics. It symbolizes the evergreen fir`s everlasting life. Grapevines (a Christian symbol), wheat ears, clover, grapes, buds, leaves and flowers are also painted.
The birds and animals, belonging to Byzantine tradition, are rarely found. Doves and fish (Christian symbols) are often painted. The rooster motif is specific to Horezu ceramics.
The symbolic motifs, associated with ancient pagan beliefs, are very interesting. The most beautiful one is the Sun motif. The Sun religion replaced the old fertility one during the Bronze Age. The Sun is symbolized by circles, spirals, whirlpools etc. and it can appear having a human shape. Other motifs are the spider web or the butterfly wing.
The Potters
Potters usually settled in areas protected by the threat of invasion, in villages situated in either mountains or hills, rarely in the plain. A very important condition for settlement was the proximity of clay quarries and forests. The later provided the wood for burning the pots.
The potters belonged to the guilds formed in villages having a pottery tradition. They headed towards the plain, carrying their merchandise in the purpose of selling it. The only exception was Horezu village, where the buyers were the ones who came to the potters, due to the exceptional quality of the ceramics.
Ceramics was not only sold for money, but also traded for other things. A ceramic pot valued its content in wheat or corn, or the double of its content in apples or potatoes.
 Pottery Related Traditions
The potters produced a lot of ceramics. A possible explanation could be the custom of breaking pots on weddings or funerals.
Many pots were also broken before the fast began: meagre food shouldn’t have been put by mistake in an old bowl that once contained meat or other animal products.
The pots were gathered in the backyard and they were broken using the club, being then replaced with new ones. Even the “prepeleac” (a peg with some branches on top, where the pot were hanged for drying after having been washed) was destroyed for the same reason.
Ceramics Variety
There is a great diversity of ceramics shape, decoration and color. The objects don’t differ only depending on the region, but also depending on the utility of the pots.
For example shepherds’ pots are more solid and have three legs. This way they can be put on the fire that shepherds lighted on the field. The bowls used for bringing the food at the field have an ear in order to be easily handled.
Pots aren’t the only things made of ceramic. There are also toys, musical instruments, domestic objects and various architectonic elements.
In time toys lost their initial meaning of ceremonial objects and became purely decorative. They represent mostly humans (women especially) and animals, the most common ones being the horse, the pig (symbol of luck), the deer, the fish, the lion, the ram, the bear, the serpent and the bird (the cuckoo and the rooster appear as a flute). The small ceramic objects are made by women and children and are molded piece by piece.
Ceramic musical instruments are especially represented by flutes and ocarinas. Among the small domestic objects we can find salt cellars, money boxes, irons, flower vases and animal-shaped jam jars.
Some architectonic elements like “tepi” were also made of ceramic. They were placed on the roof and were richly decorated (many of them being bird-shaped).
Ceramics Utilization
The pottery is mainly connected with the alimentation, but it can also be used in decorative purposes, for various structures (“tepii”) or for various ceremonies.
The peasant house contains a wide variety of ceramics – pots, cruses, jugs, porringers, huge recipients where the food for religious ceremonies was cooked, vases, pans, skillets, statues, flutes, toys etc.
Black ceramic and not enameled red ceramic are used for domestic purposes.
The enameled pots, rich decorated and painted can also be used in domestic purposes, but they are mainly used for decorating the house. The pots hanged on the girder or on the walls, together with the furniture, textures and painted icons form a remarkable decoration of the peasant room.
 The habit of decorating the interior of the house with beautiful ornate pots is spread all over the country, but is mainly common for Southern Transylvania.
The objects made on special occasions, as the big wedding pitchers representing animal-like statues are remarkable.
The pitchers are linked with the wedding ceremony and with the family related feasts. “The godfather pitchers” manufactured in Vama were hanged on girders in the houses of Oas region. On the tables from the clean room of the peasant house from Oltenia region pitchers in the shape of a hen with chicken surrounding it (an ancient symbol of fertility) were kept.
Manufacturing Centres
Horezu (a village in the Valcea County, Southern Carpathians) is very well known for its luxury ceramics. Finely ornate, it is used for interior decoration.
Beautiful ceramics are also made in Suceava, Maramures, Olt and Sibiu Counties. | |
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