MAJOLICA

During the second half of the 17th century, an area outside the main walls of Trenčín was allocated for a ceramic workshop. Because of development since 1900, the workshop premises gradually became part of a town housing estate situated in the south-western area of Trenčín. Ever since 1980, we have regularly monitored the building and garden where the workshop was discovered. A sports hall was constructed in the garden in 1989 where we believed the potters had built their kilns for firing ceramics.

During this construction period, we managed to rescue ceramics dating from 1740 – 1790. From an artistic viewpoint, these were quality products that were damaged when fired in a kiln [cracks or pottery stuck together] but some were great masterpieces.

Of interest is a jug with a clock which has moving hands. Floral décor, which prevailed in decorating ceramics during these times, shows that the painters had an excellent feel for motifs and colours. A frequent design is architecture showing secular as well as sacred buildings. Characteristics include a balanced décor and a very thin contour line.

This décor is different to ceramics from other regions of Slovakia. Later, around 1760, the contour line is already thicker and signs of crafts within simple green wreaths frequently start to appear on jugs. Other parts of the jug were without floral decorations. Besides pottery of an exceptional quality, we also acquired ceramics showing works by apprentices. For instance, the jug on which the painter learned how to circle, or the base of an unglazed bowl where he drew a floral decoration.

From a technical viewpoint, the workshop had serious problems with the quality of clay. A lot of waste was generated by items which cracked during the initial firing. Usually a tiny crack of 3 – 4 cm occurred in the upper part of a jug or on the edge of a dish. This problem must have occurred often because even though damaged, the piece was sometimes still worked further. It is interesting to note that they were unable to correct this fault in subsequent years as evidenced by the accidental discovery of a jug dating from 1784. 

The painter decorating this jug was aware of the fault and tried to cover the crack by applying a thicker layer of glaze. He didn't succeed however and the jug, despite its excellent artistic mastery, ended up as waste. These types of products, characterized by their high quality decorations, were always signed with the painter’s initials on the lower part of the item. Dishes and plates have a sign on their base in the shape of a "T" which stands for Trenčín.

Due to the kind of objects thrown away we can partially assess the range of ceramics produced by this workshop during the years 1740 –1790. Jugs of different sizes and shapes [from 10cm – 40 cm] formed 80 per cent of the waste. The rest were represented by atypical products - money boxes, inkstands and tiny animal sculptures...

The ceramics we obtained are considerably fragmented and some items are documented only in single shards. This applies primarily to finished painted products. In contrast, unglazed items cracked and damaged from the first firing could be found intact. We assume it was the potters themselves, who after taking the completed painted items out of the kiln and finding them damaged, broke them to prevent them from being used. Another reason may be that they wanted to prevent their designs from being copied.

Our collection has been constantly growing with purchases of ceramic and fragmented material from Trenčín and its surroundings in order to gain as much information as possible about Trenčín ceramics.

The ceramic designs of Trenčín from the years 1740 – 1790 are so different to other Slovak regions that we have decided to include the manufacture of these replicas into our programme. Our own majolica artworks are strongly influenced by the ceramic décor of this period.

Peter & Pavol Vozárik
Vojtecha Zamarovského 59/1
Trenčín,  911 01   Slovakia

Tel.: +421 902 322 927
Email: peter.vozarik@gmail.com