Horezu Bowl Vâlcea - County

Oltenian Mug – Olt County

Corund Bell – Harghita County

Marginea Vase - Suceava County

An Ancient Tradition

The art of pottery is one of the most ancient Romanian crafts, as proved by the beautiful ceramic objects dating from the Neolithic era, the period of a blooming civilization.

In this context, the Cucuteni culture (named after a village situated North-West of Iasi) stands out. This was described by an American researcher as ?unique to 5000 year old Europe?. The pots that belong to this period have rounded shapes, of great diversity, being richly painted. The main motifs are the spiral, the meander, the triangle, all painted in red, with black outlines on a white background. Beside dishes, there were also manufactured human-shaped figurines (representing especially females) used for religious purposes. The Cucuteni ceramics is of very high quality and is one of the most admired in the whole world for its shapes and decorations.

Ceramic objects were also crafted

during the Boian culture (with much straighter lines and meander decorations, realized with white clay) and the Hamangia culture, mostly known for its human-shaped figurines (the most famous being the statues ?The Thinker? and ?Woman Resting?, which can be found today in the Constanta Museum of Archaeology). In Walachia (Southern Romania) the Gumelnita culture had spread. The pots created during this culture were decorated through incisions, the main motif still being the spiral.

The Celts have introduced the potter?s wheel to the Dacian territory around 300 BC. The Celtic motifs can still be found in the actual Romanian ceramics.

The Making of Ceramic Pots

Pottery is a tiring work where strength, skill and knowledge are involved. Any mistake can result in the destruction of the pot. Usually this job was reserved for men, women only taking part in the decoration process.

Men brought home clay from clay pits, kneaded it with their hands, feet or a big wooden mallet, while mixing it with water. The resulted paste was cleaned of impurities, sliced into thin pieces and then molded, using the potter?s wheel.

The wheel consists of two discs, a smaller one in the upper part and a bigger one in the lower part, connected by a vertical axle. The ball of clay is put on the upper disc, while the potter spins quite fast the lower one with his foot, thus obtaining circular shapes.

The molding process requires remarkable skills and high speed because the paste mustn?t dry out (sometimes the pot is done in as fast as 40-50 seconds).

After the molding, pots are left to dry out for a few days in the shade and then are burnt in special ovens, but not before they are decorated and sometimes enameled (only the inner part and the margins).

Black and Red Ceramics

Depending on the way the ceramics is burnt, it can be black or red.Black ceramics originates in Dacia, being of great importance in the pre-Roman period. In order to obtain it, the paste is subjected to an incomplete burn. The pots are burnt in a conoid shaped pit, up to 1.5 meters deep. Next to this pit there?s another one, linked by a small canal where the fire is burning. The pots are put in the first pit. When they are well heated and become red, they are covered with a thick layer of moist clay, also used to fill the small canal. Thus, the burning process continues without oxygen and the pots become grey or black.

The black ceramics is still manufactured today in Romania and is also known as ?Marginea pottery? (named after a village in the Suceava County).

Red ceramics, obtained by burning it in an oxidizing system, borrowed some elements from the Roman culture. To obtain this color, the pots are dipped after drying off into a coloring substance obtained from a special clay (called ?huma?) mixed with water. Then the pots are hand-painted.

The red ceramics (enameled or not) can be found on 90% of the Romanian territory.

Decorating Techniques In the case of black ceramics, the decoration is done by polishing the pot with a special kind of stone. Gray marks are left by the stone on the not yet burnt object, blended with the black metallic color of the pot.

Red ceramics can be decorated using one of the tree techniques described below.

The most wide-spread consists of using a horn with a goose feather attached to the tip. The color drips through the horn and the feather, creating some sort of a pen. A fine design can be obtained by using a small stick and a few wild boar hairs.

Another way of decorating red pottery is by scratching the pot with a pointed metal object, after dipping it in a coloring substance.

The third technique, found especially in the Southern Romania, consists of applying some cords on the paste.

Natural Colors

Ceramic pots are painted using natural obtained colors, as it is known for generations. Red is obtained from a high iron oxide concentrated soil (named ?ruseala?) which can be found in the valleys, at a 2-3 meters depth. This soil is left to dry, it is grinded and then mixed with water, thus obtaining a dense liquid which is strained, resulting a glossy substance. Black is also obtained from a special soil, which can be found after the rain. Peasants obtain the green color by burning copper wires in the oven. The resulted slag is grinded and mixed with clay. White is obtained from lime mixed with white stone, burnt and grinded. Yellow can be obtained from Medgidia clay (in the south-east Romania), mixed with “ruseala”. The colors of ceramic pots follow ancient traditions. Red ceramics from the South-West of the country has Roman influences. The yellow, green and white colors used in various centers indicate Byzantine traditions.