Abstract
Tansa village of Iaşi county has singled out in the first decades of the last century as one of the most active handicrafts centres of the Moldavian Plateau, in which the peasant economy, a self-sufficient one, managed to develop on account of the products made by coopers, wheelwrights, stonemasons, potters, highly appreciated in the fairs organized in the middle Moldavia. In the collective memory, the most prominent recollection of the presence of this handicraft community remains the one related to the utilitarian peasant pottery, made by a large number of well-known craftsmen belonging to the families: Olaru, Sbiera, Diaconu, Maftei, Cristian.
Typologically, the engobe-coated, painted and glazed pottery of Tansa is part of the great family of usual pottery. It was very diverse, being closely connected to the people’s immediate needs. The deep shapes, bowls and plates from which food was eaten, were the main shapes made in this centre. As the clay was not heat resistant, the entire production concentrated in making vessels to be used in the old peasant kitchen. Decorated with the help of horns or brushes, these vessels have nice, warm colours; peculiar archaic motifs are carefully painted, using hues of blue, green or brown. Along with a good-quality glaze, these motifs resulted in a specific artistic composition, met in no other place in the former, historical province of Moldavia.
Keywords: Tansa, exhibition, handicrafts, heritage, pottery, red pottery, plate, archaic motifs, glaze, engobe, Olaru, Sbiera, Diaconu, Maftei, Cristian.
Cuvinte-cheie: Tansa, expoziţie, meşteşuguri, patrimoniu, olărie, ceramică roşie, strachină, motive arhaice, smalţ, angobă, Olaru, Sbiera, Diaconu, Maftei, Cristian.