Medieval and Later Ceramics in Upper Austria

Today`s federal territory of Upper Austria was always closely connected with Bavaria and Salzburg, until the 19th century. The compilation of the publications hitherto printed on medieval and later ceramics of this area shows that mainly laymen and ethnographics have been cursorily expressing their opinions on some sectors, while the interest of archaeologists on find material of this epoch was almost absent, until recently. Therefore, every day`s ceramics of the past centuries presented a white field not only within Upper Austria`s but also all Austria`s scientifically based research on ceramics. The state of research in neighbouring Bavaria has already progressed much further so that refeences have to be looked for in the publications of that country. The aim of the task is the documentation of the spectra of the regional groups of shapes and fabrics of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age, on the basis of extensive material complexes the dating of which is either defined by a teminus ante quem or coin finds. The task comprises material in the depots of the Enns Museum, like the potter`s waste from the 2nd half of the 14th century found on the banks of the river Enns, in 1931; the refuse from the 1st half of the 15th century of the Hospital of St.John of Jerusalem, uncovered in 1891; or the vault filling of kitchen sherds from the late 15th and the early 16th centuries. From the former Benedictine monastery of Mondsee, two pit fillings with material from the 16th century up to 1775 are also relevant. At the Oberwallsee ruin, because of the collapse of part of the ramparts in 2002, a refuse pit was discovered which according to the coins dates to the later 16th and early 17th centuries. Kitchen and table ware from the Wildenstein ruin near Bad Ischl can be dated between 1419 and 1715, with the aid of archives. On the base of this material of Upper Austria, the regional course of the development of the repertoire of shapes and different technologies will be documented and analysed. In the cultural-historical context, this leads to the proof to different ways of use by the different social strata. Furthermore, representations of various pottery shapes on pictorial sources, like contemporary paintings and prints, are looked into. The preparation and presentation of all this will make it less compelling to refer exclusively to works of relevance published in Bavaria, Czechia and Hungary. By this, a basic grid will be laid out into which further material can be entered. This may lead to a model function for other territories of Austria.

Today`s federal territory of Upper Austria was always closely connected with Bavaria and Salzburg, until the 19th century. The compilation of the publications hitherto printed on medieval and later ceramics of this area shows that mainly laymen and ethnographics have been cursorily expressing their opinions on some sectors, while the interest of archaeologists on find material of this epoch was almost absent, until recently. Therefore, every day`s ceramics of the past centuries presented a white field not only within Upper Austria`s but also all Austria`s scientifically based research on ceramics. The state of research in neighbouring Bavaria has already progressed much further so that refeences have to be looked for in the publications of that country. The aim of the task is the documentation of the spectra of the regional groups of shapes and fabrics of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age, on the basis of extensive material complexes the dating of which is either defined by a teminus ante quem or coin finds. The task comprises material in the depots of the Enns Museum, like the potter`s waste from the 2nd half of the 14th century found on the banks of the river Enns, in 1931; the refuse from the 1st half of the 15th century of the Hospital of St.John of Jerusalem, uncovered in 1891; or the vault filling of kitchen sherds from the late 15th and the early 16th centuries. From the former Benedictine monastery of Mondsee, two pit fillings with material from the 16th century up to 1775 are also relevant. At the Oberwallsee ruin, because of the collapse of part of the ramparts in 2002, a refuse pit was discovered which according to the coins dates to the later 16th and early 17th centuries. Kitchen and table ware from the Wildenstein ruin near Bad Ischl can be dated between 1419 and 1715, with the aid of archives. On the base of this material of Upper Austria, the regional course of the development of the repertoire of shapes and different technologies will be documented and analysed. In the cultural-historical context, this leads to the proof to different ways of use by the different social strata. Furthermore, representations of various pottery shapes on pictorial sources, like contemporary paintings and prints, are looked into. The preparation and presentation of all this will make it less compelling to refer exclusively to works of relevance published in Bavaria, Czechia and Hungary. By this, a basic grid will be laid out into which further material can be entered. This may lead to a model function for other territories of Austria.