Budapest Régiségei 38. (2004) – Tanulmányok dr. Gerő Győző tiszteletére
Gerelyes Ibolya: Kínai szeladon kerámia a budavári palota leletanyagában 79-91
GERELYES IBOLYA CELADON CERAMICS FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIAL OF BUDA CASTLE Certain types of ceramics which appear among the remains of the Ottoman material culture of the 16 th and 17 th centuries started to attract the attention of research as early as the beginning of the 20 th century. Attention was drawn on them primarily by the excavations in the castle of Buda and on the right bank of the Danube, in the one-time Debbaghane or Tabán. In the first decades after World War II the large-scale protection of historic buildings as well as research and archaeological work connected to it was launched all over the country From the excavations - of castles in the first place - a great quantity of ceramics was brought to light, dated to the late Middle Ages and to the period of Ottoman rule in Hungary. Though research on these finds has not been completed yet, academic research has arrived at some important conclusions. The excavations carried out since that time have confirmed the fundamental recognition, that in the archaeological material from the Ottoman period in the second half of the 16 th century a new type of ceramics appeared in Hungary. This new type of ceramics, having been unknown before, differed significantly both in shape and in technical execution from medieval ceramics in Hungary The finds are also enriched by luxury ceramics of eastern origin, such as fragments of faience from Iznik and Kütahya, Chinese porcelain cups, and in smaller amount even Chinese celadon ceramics. IZNIK FAIENCE - CHINESE PORCELAIN Even the early types of Iznik faience appear in the Hungarian archaeological material. The most characteristic example is, that the finds from Buda include a large number of so called "Golden horn"-type shards, dated to the 1520's, or fragments called "Damascus / '-type, dated to the 1540's, both of which originating from Iznik. Precisely for this reason, several of the Hungarian researchers came up with the idea, that the articles from Iznik may have arrived in Hungarian territories even before 1541, the occupation of the castle of Buda. Apart from this, the archaeological material mostly contains the so-called "classical" Iznik faience, dated to the 1570's and 80's. From the beginning of the 17 th century, the Iznik faience disappears from the finds, which fact does not require further explanation, since it has to do with the process, that the workshops in Iznik declined from the beginning of the 17* century. Concerning luxury article, by the beginning of the 17 th century, Iznik faience had been replaced by Chinese porcelain cups and Persian faience-wares imitating Chinese porcelain. These articles arrived in surprisingly great quantities. Although some pieces of Kütahya faience-wares are known from the archaeological material, it is possible that they appeared in the end of the 17 th , or the beginning of the 18 th century. 1 Celadon ceramics are known in a very small amount, and only from two archaeological sites; the castle of Buda and Gyula. The time of use of the celadon ceramics cannot be determined on the basis of two sites only because in the material of Buda it was brought to light from strata which cannot be dated later than the 1570's, while in Gyula it was mixed with 17 th century fragments. The present paper is focusing on celadon vessels and shards found in Buda castle. 86
