REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

348
Remembrance in Time
The lateral wings are attached to a lime wood frame and decorated with sculpted
elements. They are attached to the frame by metal hinges that give them mobility for
viewing the paintings on both sides. Recently restored to the regional laboratory of The
ASTRA National Museum Complex, restoration that lasted more than two years, the
shrine has regained lost beauty.
In general simply organized with small figures, the secondary scenes manage to create,
according to the historical moment depicted, a profound and dramatic feeling, the color
contributing also to this impression. This is dark, but with a particular brightness of the red
tones. The color intensity is highlighted, at the scenes on the intrados of the wings, by the
semicircular golden frame. The anonymous painter renders carefully enough the clothing and
weapons of the soldiers, being inspired by his period examples. The altar painting is not of high
quality, but the center stage is more exquisite, especially the image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus
crucified. The items that we relate to the Renaissance not appear in the actual painting of the
altar, but in the decorative elements accompanying the panel painting.
Because lack of documentation and the impossibility to make detailed analyzes and
comparisons, it is difficult to know who was the painter of the altar, which was probably
made by a local carpenter and painted by a priest with artistic ambitions in painting.
An important component of Saxon heritage museum is represented by the decorative
ceramics made by potters’ guilds in southern Transylvania, guilds arising since the
second half of the 14 th century (1376). Taking European models, the Saxon potters made a
wide range of vessels (plates, cups, jugs etc.) using a variety of different techniques: the
Saschiz ceramic with the graffito technique, the Drăguşeni ceramic painted with a horn
and a brush in a Baroque style, putting the cobalt blue floral motifs all over the surface.
Well represented in the collection is the ceramic made at Braşov by the Saxon potters
who were documentarily attested around 1500. This has a decorative work formed by
blue vertical lines with cobalt blue. In 1743, the Potters Guild of Sibiu made one of the
most valuable pieces of preserved Saxon pottery: a jug that belongs to the museum since
1966. The decorative motive is “the apple of garnet” and a German text is printed on it:
“Drink and eat and do not forget God. Long live the good souls!” The ceramic collection
also comprises pieces made at Rupea in the first half of the 19 th century or by the Potters
Guild of CârŃa, whose last member died in 1907. Besides the Saxon decorative ceramics,
which has sparked interest among collectors and art professionals because of its beauty
and originality, the Saxon potters have produced a variety of stove tiles, decorated in the
same manner as the ceramic pieces.
The Saxon painted furniture, part of an interior that is a form of identity affirmation, finds a
well-defined place in the patrimony of the museum: dowry chest (considered the oldest and
most important piece), the chest of drawers made under the influence of the Biedermaier style,
the massive wooden table, pegs on which decorative ceramics was put, the bed. Those pieces
were made during the second half of the 18th century and the 19th century. The furniture
painting with Renaissance floral motives and garlands with fluttering ribbons taken from
baroque decoration, with a generous color range, free drawn or using a template, was made at
the beginning of the 18th century under the influence of the two main cities of the region:
Braşov and Sibiu, more responsive to the Central European fashion due to the constant
economical exchanges and the circulations of people and ideas.
Brought from Western Europe since the 13 th century and settled in some parts of
Transylvania, the Saxons preserved the rural habitat specific to different areas. The
conservative tendencies were very strong especially in the aspect of the costume; this