Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)
Oana Toda: Tobacco Clay Pipes from Rupea Castle and their Historical Context
126 О.TODA Fig. 5. Decorative motifs and production stamp present on the clay tobacco pipes (nos. correspond to the catalogue entries). bowl and keel shapes, but with unknown context of discovery are found in Transylvanian collections, in Reghin47 and Alba Iulia,48 and were dated to the first half of the 19th century. The former collection of Endre Orosz from Cluj- Napoca also contains one such fragment with unknown origin.49 At least two other examples have been excavated in Alba Iulia, near the Roman- Catholic Cathedral, but were dated too early.50 This also might be the case for one of the published clay pipes from the Oradea fortress.51 A better dated lot containing at least 11 pieces of this type was discovered in Tärgu Mures in a fill layer inside one of the vaulted ceilings of the house formerly belonging to Márton Csiki (built around 1811).52 This group is similar to pipe number 14, but the artifacts have smaller bowls, are better polished, and some have a metallic overcoat. They can be dated to the beginning of the 19th century based on the context of discovery.53 Their early 19th century dating is also confirmed by analogue finds from the quarantine in Pricske,54 where the well-established site chronology enabled the dating of the pipes at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Number 15 in the catalogue is a pipe with tall octagonal bowl, an oyster shell-shaped keel, and reddish-brown fabric (PL 1/15). This is one of the most popular shapes of the 19th century.55 The production center of the pipe can be clearly identified through the two-row fragmentary production stamp (Fig. 5/15),56 located on the 47 Gruia 2012a, 265, fig. 5. 48 Gruia 2012a, 270, fig. 17/b. 49 Berecki et al. 2017, 108, cat. 296 (now part of the Mures County Museum, Archaeological Collection). 50 Marcu Istrate 2009, 69, cat. 330. 51 Marta 2002, 187, pl. LXXXVII/16. 52 Mures County Museum, History Collection, inv. no. 9917/2. An outline of the buildings construction phases in: Orbán- Csörsz Rumen 2016, 277-278. 53 The group also includes many pipes of a different shape but with the same technical traits of the fabric and dimensions. These bear the production stamp of Mathias Rauch, one of the active masters from Banska Stiavnica in the first half of the 19th century (Bielich-Curny 2009, 347). Thus, they back up the dating of the archaeological context. 54 Demjén 2018, 225, cat. 22, 54, 57, 72, 87, 99. 55 It became popular on a continental level due to the artisanship of the masters from Banska Stiavnica (LovÁsovÁ 2000, 40-41). 36 A characteristic of the vast majority of pipes both in the Habsburg Monarchy and in the Ottoman Empire, which has its origins in the 18th century (Robinson 1985, 161).
