Ciubotă, Viorel - Nicolescu, Gheorge - Ţucă, Cornel (szerk.): Jurnal de operaţiuni al Comandamentului Trupelor din Transilvania (1918-1921) 1. (Satu Mare, 1998)
Ceramics int he Ethnographic Collection of the Museum of Satu Mare
Ceramics in the Ethnographic Collection of the Museum of Satu Mare Ceramics is not only the creation of craftsmen, but most important is the outcome of the desire of the "consumer", desire that is respected in the process. It is true that every object has its one stylistic particularities, given by the craftsman, but this particularities are not the expression of their ethnicity but of their talent and training. The art of pottery represented by finished products is depicted in the collection of 1579 pieces of the Ethnographic Department of the Satu Mare County Museum. This collection, comprising all ceramic categories (earthenware, porcelain, majolica, kaolin and clay), grew in time, both through new bought items and through donations from collectors in love with traditions, people who understood that their outcome and preservation are essential in storing the values of the past. In the collection of the Satu Mare Museum one may find pots, plates, bowls, jugs, mugs, and tiles, all pottery categories specific to the traditional household, having been used daily, either ritually or decoratively. Some of these assets have great value, as they are already placed in the Treasury section, and part of them are to be proposed for the group of patrimonial values of Romania. This collection has pottery of unique beauty coming from different pottery centres from the Satu Mare county, from the entire country or from abroad. The pottery centre of Varna, Satu Mare County, is where many of the museum pieces come from, but alike stand also the centres of Cărei, Tăşnad, or the great pottery centres of Maramureş, Sălaj, Bihor, Cluj and Hungary - Hallahaza. The variety of shapes, patterns, colours, motifs on the various pieces of pottery, regardless of their usefulness, come to show the outstanding qualities of the potters - knowledge, ingenuity, imagination, and not least mastering the specific techniques. The pieces included in this collection used to take part in the decoration of interiors, in the rites of passage and in highlighting social hierarchies. Some of the pieces which are part of the collection are dated or signed by craftsmen and all this information comes to help the work of professionals who can temporarily set the production of pottery in time and space. Most of our pieces date from the late 19th and early 20th century. The pottery that is already part of the museum's collection communicates and teaches, they bear messages that are deciphered and interpreted specifically. The outcome of putting the pottery pieces in the main and temporary exhibitions or publishing various studies in special volumes come to reinforce the priorities awarded by museums. Maria Lobonţ Puşcaş Ph. D. MUZEUL JUDEŢEAN SATU MARE
