#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 “putti”: 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.

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#Exhibit of the Month

August 2022

Buckles (“paftas”)

Jewelry workshop from the town of Orhei, Bessarabia, the 19th century

The word pafta is of Turkish origin and is used in almost identical forms in Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian, and Serbian languages and some Aromanian dialects, denoting clothing accessories of a functional and decorative use, which secure or catch one's girdle, sash or belt.

Such buckles are accessories of ceremonial and everyday costumes, they were worn by both prince's courtiers and commoners in the Romanian principalities during the reign of the Phanariots, when the influence of Greek culture increased.

Throughout the Balkan Peninsula, silversmiths' workshops produced buckles very different in size, alloys, technique, style, and decoration. Turkish buckles were usually lace-like, often gilded, with many stones, emphasizing opulence. At the Bulgarians and Aromanians, they are simpler, but have a specific model and symbolism. Greek buckles are mostly silver, elegantly shaped, decorated with corals and small coins. The difference between the West and the East in this regard lies in the ability of the Turks to combine other materials with precious stones. Another feature is the predominance of floral motifs over the representations of animals and birds. The peoples under Ottoman rule assimilated these features and integrated them into their own cultures.

The buckles exhibited testify to the presence of a jewelry workshop in the town of Orhei in Bessarabia in the second half of the 19th century, and the quality of workmanship, the fine processing of the details, the complex composition denote the mastery and skill of the craftsmen.

Similar in style, these three buckles are two-piece, germinating seed-shaped, with strongly pronounced tips. The border is decorated with a garland motif, which circumscribes floral decorative elements. Hook and loop fastening is covered with a decorative button. On the reverse side, both sides are equipped with two plus two vertical straps with which the belt was attached.

The buckles are made of silver, as evidenced by the metal fineness hallmark stamp "84", applied according to the regulations on both parts of the buckle, and the hallmark stamp of the jewelry workshop in Orhei - the symbol of oak in a stylized shield. The quality of the metal and workmanship is also certified by the stamp of the assayer, moreover, one of the buckles was expertized by Dmitry Tiunov and has a "ДТ" (DT) stamp on it. On both parts of the buckle, the year of manufacture 1858 and the stamp of the assayer "ПН" (PN) are stamped. The stamp on the second buckle, the initials "МИ" (MI), indicates only the craftsman who made the product. The third buckle, made in the Orhei workshop, does not have the hallmark stamps required by law on the back side, but retains the same hallmarks stamped on the side of the products: the symbol of oak, the metal fineness hallmark stamp "84", the year of manufacture - 1871, and the initials of the assayer "КС" (KS), identified as Klim Sergeev, who worked from 1868 to 1871.

Between the 1840s and 1870s, wearing buckles became obsolete, and women's fashion completely adopted Western cuts and colors. These accessories came back into fashion around 1870 thanks to Princess Elisabeth, the future Queen of Romania. She introduced at court the fashion for the Romanian national costume, decorated with buckles. Her example was followed by the female elite of that time until the eve of the First World War. And her successor, Queen Maria, with her usual elegance and refinement, continued this fashionable tradition with in the interwar period.

#Exhibit of the Month

The Statuary Group “The Musicians”

August 2022

Buckles (“paftas”)

Jewelry workshop from the town of Orhei, Bessarabia, the 19th century

#Exhibit of the Month