EAA 2022: Abstract

Anabaptist faience is a special phenomenon of world cultural heritage. It is an important concept in the field of art history and (private) collecting. Anabaptist faience was produced in Anabaptist workshops in South Moravia. Its origin dates back to the second half of the 16th century. Production in Moravia ended around 1620 when most of the workshops closed due to the Thirty Years' War. In 1622, the Anabaptists were expelled from Moravia for religious reasons; however, faience production continued smoothly in present-day western Slovakia and Transylvania.
Archaeological excavations have documented twelve workshops that produced richly painted ceramic tableware of representative function. Anabaptist religious principles forbade depicting living creatures (humans and animals) as well as making humorous vessels in terms of shapes. The largest workshop was found in Vacenovice where a large-capacity ceramic kiln was discovered. The initial production of faience was sold to aristocratic and patrician households. Thanks to orders faience products became part of aristocratic families’ property throughout the territory of the Habsburg Monarchy.
Archaeological research of the Anabaptist workshops plays a key role in solving the question of where the Anabaptists learned by the technology of faience. It turns out that the direct source of inspiration was southern Germany where faience technology was already known in the 16th century and where a large group of members of the Moravian community of Anabaptists came from. It follows that the influence of Italian faience was secondary and mediated in the case of Moravian production.

faience, Anabaptist, South Moravia, Early Modern Ages

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Gabriela Blažková¹