# Pottery

Folk pottery, in form, colour and ornamentation, is one of the richest branches of Hungarian ornamental folk art. Its creators at all periods were professional masters who supplied a large area with their products, taking their ware on carts from market to market. Usually, they bargained not for money, but bartered, exchanging a selected vessel for grain with which it was filled once or twice, depending on the size and ornamentation of the vessel. This constant and direct contact with customers also made it possible for the request of the buyers to find expression in the size, function, and even ornamentation of the vessels. This is a factor, in every age, of the development of various centres of pottery (cf. Ill. 29).

At the time of the Conquest, the Magyars knew and used a number of unadorned clay vessels. Thus clay cauldrons, among others, appeared in the Carpathian Basin at the same time as did the Magyars, but shreds of a good many unadorned cups and pots have also been found by archaeologists. At the same time we know of vessels that may have come to the Hungarians from peoples living under Byzantine cultural influence. Excavations prove that in the 13th and 14th centuries Hungarian ceramics went through a great change in form and ornamentation, and began to adjust to Western forms. This became especially noticeable when, in the 15th century, lead glaze appeared. At first only green, brown and yellow spots and stripes, but gradually more and more definite ornaments and motifs emerged, which became general in peasant ceramics in the 17th and especially in the 18th centuries.

The simplest among the ornaments are the thumb-pressed strips of clay which have a long past. But on the edges of square candle-dipping vessels we find designs that imitate sewing, and which indicate that the predecessor of this type of vessel may have been made of leather (cf. Ill. 71). Some designs are partly incised into the clay and coloured pigments are trailed onto the vessels with a small earthenware utensil or pipette (íróka). Use of the paint brush became more general only in the second half of the 19th century, and even then only in a few places. Applied decorations occurred primarily on vessels made for the guilds, and on those used for ecclesiastical purposes. Such vessels were the kind the young potter created as his masterpiece. The pressing of clay into plaster moulds as a way of decoration spread sporadically only at the turn of the century, but this method has little to do with traditional ornamental folk art.

239. János Horváth, Sr., potter
Mohács

The technique of potters’ work is divided into three clearly defined phases. The potter mined the clay himself, then cleaned it, mixed it according to need, stamped it with his bare feet, sliced it, and refined it. He prepared the well-worked clay with several days’ work, and made it {408.} into lumps of various sizes. The main element of the second phase of the work was the shaping that took place on the potter’s wheel. The master treads on the larger, lower wheel of the potter’s wheel with one bare foot, while he slaps clay sufficient for the size of a vessel on the smaller upper wheel. He shapes it and pulls the clay to the desired form and size. The potter always considered his wheel to be his most important tool; as a consequence, it appears on guild pitchers and badges as the symbol of the entire trade. The vessels are dried to a bone-dry state in a shady but warm place and this is followed by giving the basic colour and ornamentation. In the third phase comes the firing of the vessels. The first part of this is the so-called zsengélés, terracotta firing, when the designs get their colour. After this phase lead glaze is poured over the whole vessel, and the final firing follows. A great many different vessels are put into the kiln at one time. After firing the kiln is allowed to cool along with the pottery (cf. Plate XXXIX).

Some of the vessels are not glazed, such as those made for everyday use. These were either left unpainted, or were decorated with simple, undulating designs. Cabbage rolls were cooked in the oven in the so-called vászonedény (“linen” cooking pot), and water was carried to the fields in unglazed pitchers, because if dug a little into the ground, the water would evaporate and thus be kept cool. The black vessels are similar in shape to the former. After firing, they are brushed with a mixture of oil, petroleum, and industrial alcohol, and after drying they are buffed up with a piece of broadcloth. Afterwards their decoration is carried out with pebbles of various sizes, mostly plant and floral patterns, rarely a bird or dove motif. This kind of pottery is fired in the kiln by the usual method, except that for the last twenty minutes some wet straw and wood is placed into the kiln and gradually the kiln’s openings are all shut. The trapped smoke penetrates the vessels and turns them black. This is how the potters of Nádudvar, Szentes, and Mohács fired their famous black pottery. The same firing was done with resinous pinewood in forest areas (Csíkmadaras, Madaras). The cooled pottery was wiped with a rag soaked in oil or lard, and in this way the designs emerged beautifully.

Often the masters who worked with clay did not make the same type of vessels even within the same settlement. The name fazekas or gölöncsér (potter) designates those who make the most simple commodities: pots, pans, fish and duck roasters, flower pots, chicken waterers, etc. The tálas (platter maker) and the korsós (pitcher maker) masters were held in higher esteem. The former also made other ornamental vessels besides platters and plates, such as milk and jam jugs, mugs, candle holders, and money boxes, while upright vessels, ornamental water pitchers, wine and brandy jugs and flasks were turned out by the pitcher maker. The platter and pitcher makers could also do the work of the potter, but he, on the other hand, could not do theirs.

240. The pitcher of the Peremarton Bootmakers’ Guild, 1770
Öskü, Veszprém County

Even during the last century most of the cooking and storing vessels of the Hungarians were earthenware, made out of clay. Their importance decreased gradually, but the census of 1890 still listed 5,300 independent master potters, among which 1,600 worked with one or more journeymen. However, their numbers continually decreased, and {410.} between the two wars ornamental vessels were scarcely made. Today the best potters work in co-operatives and, with the help of ethnologists, are trying to develop new styles in the area of folk arts and crafts by starting out from the old patterns.

Fig. 188. Stove tiles.
Korond, former Udvarhely County.
1. Unglazed tile. 1775. 2. A cornerpiece belonging to the former tile. 1776. 3. A tile glazed light green. 1875

Some of the potters made glazed stove tiles (kályhacsempe), and starting from the Middle Ages, excellent artistic productions have survived. Although the ovens, built with cup or mug-like clay vessels, could be heated extremely well, they were not ornamental. However, plate-shaped tiles and especially square ones were suitable for decoration. The former were made on the potter’s wheel, but the patterns of the latter were carved into wooden moulds and then the clay was pressed into it. The most beautiful rustic glazed tiles can be found in Transylvania, which, because of the beauty of their moulds belong among the loveliest works of art of ceramics and also of traditional carving. Most frequent among the patterns is the Renaissance bouquet in a two-handled vase, composed of tulips, carnations, georgina, and pomegranates. Geometric elements (rosette, star, peach stone, wolf tooth, etc.), which occur on wood carvings and even on weavings in Transylvania, may be found on the edge of the patterns.

241. Water jug.
1853 Tüskevár, Veszprém County

The effect of a local majolica factory, established in the 18th century, can be seen on the pottery from Tata, one of the numerous pottery centres of Transdanubia. Since local potters also worked in the factory, {411.} they probably learned the trade there. The basic colour of the Tata earthenware vessels is whitish. Their reticent designs are blue-green and bring to mind the majolica’s wealth of patterns. The potters of the nearby Csákvár, operating to this day, made mostly fire-proof vessels, which were embellished with relatively few designs. The ceramics of Sárköz are richer. These are made at Szekszárd, Mórágy and Siklós in styles similar to each other (cf. Plate XLIV). The earlier vessels were light coloured, but later were replaced by dark brown. Green, reddish brown, and yellow dominate on its trailed designs, and flower and bird motifs are almost always present. Besides the many different kinds of dishes children’s toys are also made, piggy banks and pear shaped boxes. The whistling cock, hen, and bird are favourite toys for children.

Hódmezővásárhely, in the Great Plain, has, during the last two centuries, always counted as the largest Hungarian pottery centre. The potters, platter and pitcher makers made here everything that could be formed of clay. Thus, alongside their multi-coloured, flowered plates, we find the so-called fritter platters with open-work, almost always coloured green. Their pitchers, with or without glaze, were famous far and wide. Here, and at nearby Mezőtúr, the most beautiful pocket-sized brandy flasks (butella) were made. These are always engraved and incised with floral and bird designs on a green background. We generally find a little verse on the side, which contains the name of the owner, and sometimes even of the maker:

Green butella my name be
If there’s brandy a-plenty be.
If good brandy missing be
My name’s mere clay–no other be.
Whose flask is this, you ask?
István Marsi’s, the carpenter’s.
He had it made for all his friends,
Drinking alone meets not his ends.

The most outstanding products of Hungarian folk pottery may be found along the Middle-Tisza region. The point of origin of these types, it seems, must have been Debrecen, whose traditions of pottery reach back to the Middle Ages. The guild has kept the list of masters from 1715 up to 1920. Debrecen was counted not just as an important centre, but as a market town as well. It enjoyed a certain independence during the Turkish occupation, and therefore all kinds of people came and went there, which made the assertion of many different influences possible on the art of pottery. The basic colour of its products is yellowish-white, ornamented with green, brown, yellow, red sarmentous and floral plant elements, and in some cases with birds. Debrecen was also one of the origins of anthropomorphic vessels (cf. Plates XL, XLII, XLVI).

242. Decanters for Communion wine of the Calvinist church of Báránd, 1797
Báránd, Hajdú-Bihar County

From the beginning of the last century, the most beautiful examples of anthropomorphic pitchers were made at Mezőcsát (cf. Plates XLVII, XLVIII). The designs were incised, painted, and also carried out in relief on the yellowish-white basic colour. On the stomach of the wine pitcher in form of a man (Miska jug) a snake is often depicted, perhaps as {412.} a warning to immoderate consumers of the danger contained in wine. Nearby Tiszafüred worked primarily for the Matyó people, who liked plenty of colour, and for the villages that lay at the foot of the mountains (cf. Plates XLIX, L). Although they made wine pitchers similar to those above, their main ware consisted of platters and plates. They flowered the vessels in a most beautiful and diverse way, so that each composition appears to be new and singular. Reddish-brown and bright green is the most frequent on the light basic colour. We should mention among its special dishes the komaszilke, which consists of several stackable pots and lids, and in it the relatives and the koma (sponsor) women took dinner to the newly-delivered mother. The pottery traditions of the Middle-Tisza flourish today primarily in the shops of Karcag, on the level of folk arts and crafts.

243. Dish decorated with the design of a cock
Mórágy, Tolna County

244. Dish decorated with the design of a bird, 1843
Mezőcsát, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County

245. The Miska jug of the Locksmiths’ Guild
Mezőcsát, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County

Among the pottery centres of Upper Hungary it is worth emphasizing the work of the masters in Gyöngyös and Pásztó. They worked with blue, green, and, less frequently, red decorations on a whitish base. We {414.} often find gay little birds among the flower motifs. The so-called csali kancsó (puzzle-jug) has an open-work neck, while from the bottom several narrow tubes lead to the thickened edge; it is one of the characteristic products of the Gyöngyös and Pásztó regions. Only those who knew its trick were able to drink wine out of it, because they knew from which tube to suck the wine. In a cheerful company many jokes were played with such a vessel.

There were already potters in Sárospatak in the Middle Ages, although excavations have turned up ornamental and Turkish-style vessels only from the 16th century. Haban (Anabaptist) potters settled here in the middle of the 17th century, and the white basic colour they used here may perhaps be a survival, as opposed to the more general brown. Earlier they used trailed decoration, and from the second half of the 19th century brushwork for their geometric, floral designs in green, red, white and ochre colours. Sárospatak potters supplied earthenware dishes to a significant part of the north-eastern section of the Carpathian Basin.

{415.} There were few potters in Kalotaszeg in Transylvania, otherwise so rich in ornamental folk art; the people got most of their earthenware dishes from Torda and Jára. Among the richly ornamented vessels, the small pitcher, bokály, is typical of the entire Transylvania, which, if not used for drinking, decorated the walls. The white basic colour of the dishes of Torda often strongly recalls the wealth of motifs of Kalotaszeg embroidery. The potters of Jára used more colours. Red and black as basic colours also occurred as well as blue, and the colour of the motifs can be equally blue, yellow, and dark brown (cf. Plates XLI, XLIII, XLV).

246. Earthenware bowl
Sárospatak

247. Crosses Csíksomlyó, Salvator Chapel, former Csík County

In Székelyland, Korond is perhaps the largest, best-known potters’ village. Here they made every kind of vessel, principally cooking pots, ornamental pitchers, plates, and stove tiles. The products of Korond were known through the entire area of Transylvania, and precisely because the potters worked for many areas, unity could not develop in their ornamental style. We find plant and animal motifs, the stag and the {416.} bird being the most frequent among the latter. Kézdivásárhely, a market town, is also one of the important centres of pottery. The basic colour of the pitchers and plates is yellowish-white, on which are applied green and brown coloured geometric designs, and less frequently plant designs. Székely merchants of the last century transported the small pitchers often even over the Carpathians, so that we can also find some of them in the museums of Poland (Wrocław).

The artistic working of stone is of many kinds, but it is especially tied {417.} to the place where the material is found. Therefore, the inhabitants of those villages around which suitable stone can be quarried usually excel in stone masonry and ornamentation. Its use is quite varied. Thus the door and the windows of a house may be made of stone, in which case mostly the upper sections are carved. Carved gate posts and roadside crosses may be met with, yet stone carving can be seen most frequently in cemeteries. The carvings of tombstones often show effects of relatively newer historical styles (Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classical), as people try to imitate the tombstones of nobles, made in the city, or sometimes even abroad. Such a centre of stone masonry is Erdőbénye of the Hegyalja, which supplied the entire area. Several similar centres may be found in Transdanubia and in Transylvania. Most designs on stones were curved, sarmentous floral patterns, and even coloured in some places. Sometimes roughly-sketched human portrayals may be seen among them.