Pitchers and Urns Found in Bafra Museum of Archaeology and Etnography

Abstract

In this study, six pitchers and seven urns exhibited in the Bafra Archeology and Ethnography Museum were introduced and evaluated in detail within the framework of the Art History discipline. On the subject of dating the works, except for one, they have been dated by looking at their form, technique and ornamental features. According to this, except for the 1890-91 pot, the remaining artifacts must belong to the Late Ottoman or Republican era. The works vary among themselves in terms of form. The ewers are cambered, low or high pedestal. Their bodies are bell-shaped, cylindrical and circular. Their necks are thick-short or thin-long. All of these works, with or without a lid, have a single handle on the side and a thin-long spout. One of the vessels has a high pedestal and the others have a flat bottom. Their bodies are pear, bell and circle shaped. Instead, all of them have a single handle on the side and all but one is without a cover. Brass and iron were used as auxiliary elements in the vessels using copper as the main material. The works were made in the forging and casting technique. While the body parts are shaped in the forging technique, the handle and handle grips are generally cast. The parts obtained by forging and casting are combined with clamps, rivets, threaded rivets and solder. The works were decorated using scraping, relief and buckling techniques. It can be said that the works decorated with plant, geometry and figure compositions are modest in terms of decoration. The figural decoration seen on the artifacts - two dragon heads and a bird - has a low density. It has been seen that the figural decoration, which has a traditional and very schematic form style from an iconographic point of view, follows the ongoing line in traditional Turkish art in the context of symbolic references and values (abundance, abundance and healing). It is known that the dragon figure is used as a symbol of abundance, fertility, healing, in various daily use items in Turkish art. We think that the bird figure in the jar may be related to abundance and fertility, as in other water-related items. Only one of the works has an inscription in which the sponsor and the date are recorded. Except for the inscription mentioned, no master's name, stamp or similar element was found. It has been tried to determine the cities where the works were produced by looking at similar examples. Nearly half of the works show a great similarity with the examples in Giresun, Kayseri, Kastamonu, Erzincan, Afyonkarahisar and Gerede. The material of the examined works, its size and shape features, as well as its technical and decorative features, are in harmony with the features of traditional items found in almost every region of Anatolia. The works have especially a similar tradition to the late Ottoman works.