#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

July 2021

Bronze finial from Răscăieţii Noi

This unusual object of the Scythian period was found in 1953 by a village teacher A.I. Shiryaev at the top of a mound near the village of Răscăieţii Noi in the Ştefan Vodă District. A quarter of a century later, excavations in 1979 revealed that this outstanding mound (about 10 m high and more than 40 m in diameter) was erected in the Early Bronze Age, at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Then, two thousand years later, there were buried Scythians, with which, apparently, other finds are associated, a cauldron and a finial, cast in bronze.

The finial from Răscăieţii Noi is one of the items made in the Scythian animal style, a special manner of decoration that spread along with the culture of the early nomads of Eurasia from Central Europe to the Black Sea region and the Caucasus, from the Volga region to southern Siberia, from Central Asia to Mongolia and northern China. However, in spite of the general Eurasian coverage, the artifact from Răscăieţii Noi contains features characteristic mainly of Eastern Europe. Firstly, it was the Eastern European nomads who preferred to portray both daytime birds of prey (Falconiformes) and individual parts of their body: their head or beak. Secondly, the "European" bestiary of the Scythian animal style (as opposed to the "Asian" Scythian-Siberian bestiary) often includes fantastic animals (and their various "artistic transformations") that came here under the influence of the cultures of the Middle East. Thus, the "fantastic" image of the Răscăieţii Noi artifact is given by a beak bent in one and a half turns, which does not happen in nature. Thirdly, the very shape of the object is characteristic only for the North Caucasus, the steppes of the Black Sea region and the Ukrainian forest-steppe.

Such finials were interpreted as symbols of power, as a kind of standard banners, and even as decorations for the masts of ships. However, most researchers consider them to be associated with funeral processions, most likely to decorate funeral canopies, carts or chariots. The latter version seems to be the most preferable, especially since similar decorations are found on the images of the chariots of the Middle East. In terms of style, the artifact from Răscăieţii Noi is associated with finials from the mounds of the Ukrainian forest-steppe and the North Caucasus, however, performed in a more realistic manner. It seems that the specimen from Răscăieţii Noi shows further stylization of the image, reaching its highest stage, when the beak is only guessed in the curls of the upper part of the finial, but the pronounced cere and relief eye still emphasize the resemblance to the head of a bird of prey. From the middle of the 5th century BC things made in such a stylized manner penetrate into the steppes of the Black Sea region, including the bank of the Dniester in its lower reaches, where the finial was found near the village of Răscăieţii Noi.

#Exhibit of the Month

The Statuary Group “The Musicians”

July 2021

Bronze finial from Răscăieţii Noi

#Exhibit of the Month