Folia historica 23/1
I. Tanulmányok - Ridovics Anna: A Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum habán kerámiái a 17-18. században
prismatic-bodied bottles mostly made with tin scrcw caps were probably used for storing and serving drinks. The prismatic-bodied water storage pot with two handles and a wide mouth served a ritual purpose, which is suggested by the symbol of a crucifix displayed on it. The wide-necked, rotund or oval, ribbed or plain-bodied jugs belong to a characteristic type of vessels. These were often provided with a tin foot or lid. Representational painting was against Anabaptist religion and the interdict started to lapse only in the second half of the 17 th century. The collection's earliest figural piece of Habán pottery is the wine-jug of the tailors' guild in Bártfa from 1689. There arc a great variety of guild decanters from the end of the 17 1' 1 century on in the collection. The emblems of the trades are depicted among rich vegetal ornaments, often framed in a leafy wreath. Pear-shaped pitchers with their necks broadening upwards and jugs with a ball-shaped bulge, ringed neck, narrow spout and handle were getting more and more popular. The so-called delft-mannered pots represent a separate stylistic unit among Habán ceramics. The influence, exercised on them from the 1660-70s on, was due to their close relationship with the Mennonite brethren in the Netherlands on the one hand, and the Europe-wide popularity of blue and white delftware imitating the beauty of Chinese porcelain, on the other. There are several pieces in the collection of the National Museum, mostly from the 1700s and the 1710s. These arc mainly hand-painted round plates and great oval bowls with a broad and plain or fluted and ribbed rim. They arc characterised by the dominance of blue and white colours and the employment of peculiar small patterns, like houses, churches, ships, trees in leaf, pine trees, ferns, birds, deers and tiny figures. Blue and yellow glazed pots occupy an intermediate position between tin glazed earthenware and pottery; their production required a different technical method. Their basic glaze was coloured with cobalt and antimony. Mainly white and yellow tin glazed patterns were applied on it, and then usually a transparent lead-enamel created the glossy surface. The stove of Liptónádasd, this 17 t h century masterpiece of Habán stove-makers, was made with blue glazed tiles and it can be found in the collection of the National Museum. Blue glazed ceramics were sold at a lower price. According to their regulation, Habáns produced these pieces of pottery for their own usage and these were also easily available for a wider range of less distinguished customers. As a result of the 'market competition' a characteristic product, the blue glazed pottery had been established, thus entering into competition with local potters. The last period, called Late or Post-Habán (falling on the second half of the 18 1' 1 century and on the 19 1' 1 century), is represented by a rich material in the museum's collection. During the second half of the 19 t h century, certain Habán settlements in Upper Hungary (in Szobotist and Nagylevárd) continued their prosperous business even after their Catholicisation. Elsewhere, their craftsmen carried on working as independent potters or became the experts of delftware manufactures. Habán pottery exercised creative influence both on artistic and popular pottery. Pot types, colours and decorations had all been changing. Beside certain types of plates and pitchers, a pear-shaped, widening-ncckcd, narrow-mouthed type of jug had also bccome popular. From the middle of the 18 t h century, big-bellied pitchers with a broad, pinched spout and a short or long neck got widespread. Ornamentation covered more and more of the pots' surface and the rhythmic proportion of the white basis and the colours had also changed. Within the framework of patterns covering the whole surface, floral design and representational painting had appeared in greater patches and baroque cartouches: ploughmen, pipe-smoking peasants and soldiers. As an influence of Catholicism and people's religiousness, jugs were embellished with images of popular saints and devotional pictures. Fordította: Sallay Gergely Pál 87
