#Exhibit of the Month

German porcelain is highly prized among antique collectors for its exceptional material quality, originality, and the meticulous craftsmanship of its decorative design.
The museum's collection preserves five figurines from one of the oldest porcelain manufactories in the Thuringia region of Germany - the statuary group known as *"The Musicians"*, crafted at the Volkstedt manufactory. These pieces entered the museum's holdings in 1991, acquired from a resident of Chișinău. With undeniable historical and artistic value, they bear the distinct imprint of the Rococo style.
The Volkstedt manufactory has a long-standing tradition in producing figurines, including those depicting musicians. In 1760, Georg Heinrich Macheleid - inventor of hard-paste porcelain in Thuringia - founded a production workshop in Zitzendorf, which was relocated to Volkstedt in 1762. Macheleid led the manufactory until 1764. Over time, the factory changed ownership and management multiple times. Under the direction of Christian Nonne, it flourished between 1767 and 1797, a period marked by significant artistic development. Volkstedt began creating figurines that would later gain international recognition.
It was during this flourishing period that the museum's porcelain statuettes, titled *"The Musicians"*, were produced. They depict five cherubic figures: four playing musical instruments (flute, mandolin, horn, and pipe), while the fifth conducts. Each figurine is entirely handcrafted - from modeling to painting - and delicately adorned with pastel tones and gilded details, capturing the playful movement and refined artistry of each musician. The base is made of mass-colored porcelain in a rare grey-green hue. The contrast between green, white, and gold accents lends the ensemble an unusually delicate appearance. These ornamental features are characteristic of the Rococo style, which emerged in France and is closely associated with the reign of King Louis XV.

The mark applied to the figurines consists of two crossed forks, clearly rendered in underglaze blue, with slightly blurred paint - a detail that helps date their production. Because the crossed forks often resembled the crossed swords of the Meissen trademark, the Volkstedt manufactory was compelled to change its mark starting in 1787. Initially represented by a single fork, the mark briefly returned to two forks before being replaced in 1800 by the graphic symbol "R", referencing the town of Rudolstadt. Therefore, the brief period during which the two-fork mark was reinstated - and during which the museum's figurines were likely produced - is estimated to be between 1787 and 1800.

The statuettes range in height from 10 to 18 cm and are preserved in relatively good condition.

These late 18th-century German porcelain pieces, now on display, are exceptionally rare. They stand as true works of art by German craftsmen and serve as important historical testimonies to the evolution of porcelain manufacturing in Germany.

Virtual Tour

#Exhibit of the Month

April 2023

“Resurrection of the Lord” icon

The Paschal icon "Resurrection of the Lord" represents one of the central holidays of Christianity, the subject signifying also one of the great Mysteries. The "Resurrection of the Lord" is the pivotal moment in the history of salvation, Christ the Redeemer raising man and the whole creation closer to God. The resurrection of Christ is the truth on which all Christian teaching is based. The worldview of the first Christians and all early Christian art is permeated by this paschal joy and belief in the triumph of life over death.

The constitution of the iconography of the "Resurrection of the Lord" celebration presented an extremely difficult task, the very event of Christ's Resurrection being misunderstood. This moment, not being described in the Holy Scripture, remained for the simple man an impenetrable mystery. The silence of the evangelists in this regard testified to the greatness of the event that defied any description, much less representation. Only through the symbol that expresses Christ's victory over death does the mind become able to transcend space and time, to leave the visible world and approach what is hidden from historical evidence. For the artistic embodiment of the mystery of the Resurrection, the Church has over time created a complex language of images, signs and attributes. Such a pictorial formula was developed that revealed the spiritual component of the Resurrection of Christ, embodied the true triumph of Christ as the lord of heaven, conqueror of death and liberator of mankind.

According to the Orthodox belief, in the three days between His death and resurrection, Christ descended into hell, to free the souls imprisoned in that place, this is why the classic icon of Orthodox origin was entitled "The Descent of Christ the Savior into Hell". In these images, Christ does not appear in a humble, vanquished attitude, but in one of the conqueror of death, the savior of those defeated by death. Western tradition has introduced into liturgical use other images, more understandable for the layman's consciousness, in which the Risen Christ can be represented above the tomb, the sarcophagus, sometimes alongside the women bearing myrrh. These images distance themselves from the stated symbolism and are included among the images that chronicle the evangelical events.

The icon from the museum's collection devoted to this subject presents a silver-plated brass ironwork using the hammering technique, the decorative elements being modeled in relief and engraved in depth. The composition is framed in a border made up of three columns: the central column being made of small pyramids viewed from above, the side ones decorated with the so-called "twisted rope" ornament. The veil almost completely covers the field of the icon, leaving only the Savior's face visible. Jesus Christ is represented triumphant over death, stepping over the closed sarcophagus. He is draped in a broad mantle fastened to the breast by a brooch, his right hand extended to his side, his left holding the banner with a cross inscribed in it. The haloed Christ is framed in a radiated rhomboidal mandorla. On one side and the other - split stones, which testify to the passages described in the Gospel - "the earth shook and the stones split" - at the moment of Christ's death (Matthew 27, 51). The cracking of the stones could also recall the opening of the waters of the Red Sea, mentioned in the Old Testament, about the people of Israel who left the slavery of Egypt, to go to the land of promise. On one side and the other of the sarcophagus - two Roman soldiers, among those guarding the tomb, blinded by the light emitted by the resurrected Christ.

Bessarabia, 1853
Wood, oil, silvered brass, gilding, 30×21 cm
Inventory 24158, purchase, Chisinau, 2003