Post-medieval Pottery in Mazovia and Podlachia (16th–18th Century) – a Preliminary Report

Maciej Trzeciecki

doi:10.23858/apa59.2021.2478

Abstract

The text is dedicated to the question of traditions and innovations in post-medieval pottery manufactured and used in the territory of today’s Mazovia and Podlachia in Poland. It focuses on the distribution of waregroups in the assemblages from selected sites dated to the mid-16th – late 18th centuries. The list includes both capital cities in the province (Warsaw, Płock) and local towns (Ciechanów, Płońsk, Przasnysz), as well as royal and aristocratic residences, gentry manors and villages. Among the most characteristic features worthy of note are the long lasting of early medieval manufacturing traditions, the widespreaduse of greyware, the relatively small proportion of whiteware and glazed vessels, as well as the sporadic (excluding Warsaw) occurrence of fineware (porcelain, faience). The analysis points to the specificity of Mazovian pottery in 16th–18th centuries, in relation to both other Polish lands and our notions on trends in pottery manufacture and use in the post-medieval period.

Highlights

The text is dedicated to the question of traditions and innovations in post-medieval pottery manufactured and used in the territory of today’s Mazovia and Podlachia in Poland
The post-medieval period can be considered as transition between the Middle Ages and modernity, a process spreading over several centuries
This triggered the emergence of new patterns of social life, including modes of consumption, compatible with the ambitions and needs of new privileged social classes.The aforementioned questions, changes in consumption patterns and table culture, are present in academic discourse, the researchers’ interest has focussed mainly on the core areas of the post-medieval Western world.an attempt to look at the socio-cultural transformations on the European peripheries through the lens of pottery finds appears to have significant cognitive potential

Summary

Introduction

The text is dedicated to the question of traditions and innovations in post-medieval pottery manufactured and used in the territory of today’s Mazovia and Podlachia in Poland. The assemblage of vessels from Leonowicze, a peasant village in Podlachia established in the mid-16th century and abandoned in the early 18th century, included about 90% of the traditional ware (Gołembnik et al, 2018: 335–336).

Results

Conclusion