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Romania has a rich heritage of beautiful and functional ceramics. Romanian pottery is unique and varied, expressing the people’s creativity and traditions. Its forms and colors range from the black Marginea ceramics, to the Sacel red vases, and to the colorful Horezu and Corund plates.

Romanian pottery features geometrical decorative patterns, the most popular of which are triangles, spirals, and waved lines. There are also designs featuring plants, birds and animals. Ceramics are painted using natural colors. Reds are from soil rich in iron oxide. Greens are a result of burning copper wires in the oven with the remnants being ground and mixed with the clay. Whites are from a lime and white stone mixture, which is burnt and ground. Yellows are from Medgidia clay (southeast Romania) mixed with iron oxide. Red ceramics from the southwest of the country indicate Roman influences. Yellow, green and white colors used throughout Romania indicate Byzantine traditions.

While ceramics vary greatly in their shape, decoration and color, they differ by their region and their distinct purpose. For example, shepherd’s pots are sturdy with three legs enabling them to be placed over the fire; bowls used for bringing the food have handles for carrying. Additional household items include saltcellars, moneyboxes, irons, vases and animal shaped jam jars. Musical instruments are represented with flutes.

MotoRomania’s favorite ceramics are from the various regions of Romania: Horezu (Wallachia), Corund (Transylvania), Marginea (northern Moldova) and Sacel (Maramures).

On the Olt River in Valcea County is the picturesque village of Horezu. Horezu pottery is one of the most sought after and famous of the Romanian ceramics. Whites, browns, gray, and greens decorate plates, bowls, mugs, pitchers, vases as well as toys and flutes. The delicate and striking geometric and vegetal designs are carefully painted with traditional tools. Tools such as cow horns (through which the paint drips), goose feathers and the “gaita” (a small brush with rough hairs) form the artist’s arsenal. The patterns boast the popular Horezu rooster, in addition to the fish, peacock tails, circles, spirals, stars, and grain spikes.

The clay is obtained from the nearby hills of Ulmet. Each piece is uniquely hand-shaped on the traditional kick-wheel with accompanying finishing tools. Its firing occurs in horizontal wooden stoves.

Along route 13A in Harghita County is the village of Corund. Corund pottery is known for its green, brown, and cobalt blue ceramics. It was first documented in 1613 and has become a vital part of the region’s trade, tourism and culture.

Corund’s main products are pots, pans, vases, candleholders, and cups. The ornamental plates are beautifully decorated with a variety of symbols: wedge, peafowl eye, chessboard, pine branch, edelweiss, spinning-case, tree of life, grid, doorpost, tulip, half sun, peafowl, chrysanthemum, oak leaf, and string. Corund’s pottery fair is annually held on the first weekend of August.

In northern Romania, in Suceava County is the village of Marginea. The striking black Marginea pottery produced here, dates to 1500 and was crafted for food storage and other things.

Marginea is bordered by the Sucevita River and surrounded by forests and lands providing water, fire and clay for the preservation of this art. Prior to communism, there were approximately 60 families working in pottery. However, during communism, potters were faced with the option of either renouncing their art or continuing to work in secret. Later, the communists tried to exploit the art to their benefit as well as give it a new form and mechanize it.

Marginea is the only place in the world where the black color is obtained without adding anything to the clay paste. The black color is created by the ten hours that the clay spends in the coal furnace.

The village of Marginea has hosted admirers of its pottery such as the Emperor of Japan, the Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, King Michael of Romania and numerous ambassadors, politicians, journalists, ethnographers, folklorists, and travelers.

The beautiful pottery can be experienced while in process and its final products purchased at the workshop of Magopat Gheorghe. For a complete product selection, please visit www.ceramicamarginea.ro

South of Viseu de Sus, in Maramures County is the village of Sacel. Sacel pottery is known for its unglazed red ceramics. Passed down from Dacian times through the generations, the art has remained largely unchanged. Before reaching the workshop, the clay is manually dug from 10 meters below ground. The paint is acquired from a special type of rock.

In the Ceramica Sacel workshop, the molding, drying and exchanging is completed. A simple structure with plastered walls and an oven, the workshop has a backless bench, a potter’s wheel, and shelves for drying the wares. The clay is prepared either outside or in the shed where the kiln and the tools are located. Unique to this pottery and region, the kiln has a semi-ovoid shape with the hearth dug into the ground, without flues and with a single stoke-aperture, placed opposite the larger opening for loading the pots.

The Sacel potters have preserved these archaic technical processes: breaking of the clay lumps by beating them with a wooden hammer (mai) on a plank table, molding with the feet on a cloth, waterproofing the piece by polishing the entire surface with river stone, firing for 24 hours using spruce wood (dried for 2-3 years), and decorating the fired orange-red colored pieces with black clay paint, applied with a brush.

Expressive form and function

Marginea

Horezu

Sacel

Pottery

Pottery

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