Hutterite faience

The Hutterite faience produced on the territory of today’s Czech and Slovak Republics between the late 16th and the early 18th century may be considered among the most outstanding examples of the art of pottery. The masters of Hutterite faience came from Switzerland, Tyrol, southern Italy, Carinthia and southern and western Germany, and were followers of the Reformation teaching of Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Anabaptists (i.e. those baptised for the second time) had to flee their native countries and seek refuge in the centre and west of Europe. In 1526, they started to settle in Moravia and later in Slovakia, where they established settlements with strictly collective ownership. Anabaptists from northern Italy were the most experienced in the manufacture of the fine glazed pottery that the Anabaptists or Hutterites brought from their homelands. Hutterite pottery workshops produced a wide range of goods including items for everyday use; however, their most remarkable products were decorative faience objects designed for the higher social classes.