Cseri Miklós, Füzes Endre (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum évkönyve 8. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1992)

MIKLÓS ZSUZSA-SABJÁN TIBOR: Késő középkori szemeskályha Galgahévíz-Szentandrás-parton

THE "EYED" TILE STOVE DATING FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES FOUND IN G ALGAHÉVÍZ-SZENTANDRÁSPART The authors describe the reconstruction of an "eyed" stove made of concave tiles produced by reduced burning in the late Middle Ages. In 1989 Zsuzsa MIKLÓS and her collaborators Klára KŐVÁRI and Éva Cs. BALOGH conducted excavations in Szentandráspart at the fields of the village Galgahévíz (Pest County). On an elevated spot of the range of hills an earthwork and a monaster) were erected in the age of the Árpáds (8971301 ). The ruins of the latter were used for building material early in the 19th century. On the western fringes of the area the remains of a building dating from the Late Middle Ages were found in seriously disturbed condition (III. I). The walls were most likely made of brick above stone foundations. The debris of the tile stove covered several square metres of the one-time floor level. It mostly consisted of the broken pieces of bowl-shaped concave tiles with fragments of plaster (clayey mud) and cornices among them. The bottom of the stove laid on floor level on the eastern side of a broken partition wall. Its ground plan formed an irregular rectangle measuring 150-160 by 110120 em. Its walls were 25-30 cm thick (III. 2). The pieces of a broken jug could also be identified among the debris (Plate IX). Reiving on similar findings, we think, it probably dates from the second half of the 15th or the early years of the 16th century. Our site has been indentified with the Hévíz Abbey first mentioned in 12<X4. It was referred to in 1523 for the last time, so it was most probably destroyed by the first or second wave of the Turkish campaigns, never to be rebuilt. After the preservation and completion of the broken tiles it could be deduced that they had been made by reduced burning and were originally gray. When in the course of use the tiles became lighter they were rubbed with graphite to restore their original appearance. Three versions could be distinguished of the bowl-shaped tiles thrown on the potter's wheel. Type "A" accounted for the majority of the find (Plates I and IX). Their material was finer and the detail work had been done with more care on them than on the tiles classified as type 'B'" chareterized by rough and bold execution ( Plates II and IX). From "C" type tiles only one was found. Its concave surface was covered by green glaze (Plates II and IX). The corner tiles comprised an "A" type bowl-shaped tile and another half-sized one with a rope motif made of two strands of clay (Plates III. 1 and XII). The recessed half-size tiles, some of which were used in the cylindrical wall, were made by throwing a closed cylinder on the potter's wheel then cutting it into two (Plates III. 2. X, and XI). There were almost a hundred pieces of mud fragments in the finds. We have managed to determine the position of most of them within the stove (III. 5). They have been grouped as follows: Straight chinkings (Plates IV, XIII and XIV), T-shaped pieces (Plates IV. 2, XIII. 18-20), plaster fragments that used to be between the concave tiles ("eves") (Plates V. and XV. 1-4), broken pieces of the shoulder (middle cornice) (Plates VI. 1-2 and XV. 6), fragments fit into the corners of "eyed" tiles (VI. 3 and XV. 5), broken pieces of the crown cornice shaped like a plait (Plates VII, VIII. 1-2, and XVI. 1-5). and stove buttons (Plates VIII. 3 and XVI. 6-7). In some of the pieces of plaster the imprints of twigs and tiles could be observed. The large amount of material found enabled us to make deductions about the method of making the concave tiles. In some cases it could be established that a frame was placed on the potter's wheel then, after making a bowl-shaped dish in the middle, the frame was put in its place from below adjusting its lips to be square. "The corner tiles were stuck together after carving their sides, then the ornamental plaits of clay were added to their edges (III. 4). The firing of dried tiles was performed by reduced burning, a well known technique in the folk potters' craft. At the beginning of reconstruction the ground plan of the stove was known which, together with the corner tiles, made it obvious that the lower part was angular. The cylindrical form of the upper part was indicated by those pieces of mud chinkings which had made the tiles adhere to each other in the form of a polygon. On the basis of these fragments, it could be established that the wall of the stove was built of bowl-shaped tiles, placed side by side with a swing of half a tile. The half-size tiles with a recess were also used to narrow the cylindrical part of the stove step by step, i.e.. row by row of tiles at the back. This method is also well known from the traditions of vernacular stove-making originating in the recent past. The shoulder of the stove was rimmed by a plain mud cornice; its top was smoothed by hand. The crown cornice was more ornamental. Its face was shaped to show a rope motif. The stove was topped by a cupola. On basis of the stove buttons, and the triangular tiles found in analogous finds, we suppose that the cresting of the stove was ornamented with similar tiles positioned at a certain distance from each other, even though no fragments of triangular tiles were discovered on our site. However the broken pieces of the cornices indicated that in some places the tiles went higher then the uppermost cornice. The buttons were applied to the triangular tiles by hand. The surface of the stove was covered by a network of strongly protruding chinkings. The yellowish-reddish mud cornices and chinkings surrounding gray tiles must have produced an interesting harmony of colours. The stove was strongly rustic in its appearance. Both the shaping of tiles and the construction of the stove showed many irregular, slipshod solutions (III. 6-8). The large number of fragments enabled us to come to certain conclusions concerning the construction and details of the stove. The tiles were placed in clayey mud mixed with chaff. The walls were made so thick that the bottom of the concave tiles would not be in direct contact with the fire. The thickness of the wall also solved static problems: the wall of the upper cylindrical part could only be supported this way by the lower section. This problem was especially important at the corners. At the back side, facing the wall, a vault was made of twigs and mud topped by a horizontal deal board to carry the weight (Hi.