Folia historica 23/1

I. Tanulmányok - Ridovics Anna: A Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum habán kerámiái a 17-18. században

16. kép: Pieces of Habán Pottery in the Hungarian National Museum Summary The richest Hungarian public collections of Habán and Post-Habán pottery, totalling hundreds of pieces, are preserved in the National Museum and the Museum of Applied Arts. The collecting of the material started in the second half of the 19

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h century. Flóris Römer, keeper of the Cabinet of Antiques from 1869, paid utmost attention to Habán ceramics and folk pottery developing under their influence. At that time they had limited knowledge of the origins of Habán ceramics, they considered it as the materialisation of Hungarian national pottery. The pieces collected in the 19

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h century by means of donation and purchasing, together with several other works of art, were transferred to the newly established specialised Museum of Applied Arts in 1877. A considerable part of today's Habán pottery collection of the National Museum stem from the 20

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h century. On the basis of research made by Károly Layer, Béla Krisztinkovich and Imre Katona, today we know that Habáns were German-speaking Anabaptists, the representatives of Reformation's popular branch, who professed communist principles and suffered severe persecution for their religion. They used to live within the compass of 'haushaben', i.e. in joint tenancy and in a community of goods. Presumably, this is where the name Habán derives from. Groups of Habáns arrived in Hungary from South-Tyrol, Austria and Bohemia. They 85