Despite wartime destruction, the
town of Bautzen (capital of Oberlausitz)
is worth a visit, and its ceramic muse-
um, while still a work-in-progress, offers
some fine examples of Bunzlauer Ware
dating from the 18th century to the pre-
sent. The remaining potteries of the old
ceramic center prove rather a disap-
pointment, however; factory-like in
appearance, what they produce appears
slick and often assembly-like in both
form and decoration.

This is definitely not the case in the
Bunzlauer pottery shops of the former
East Germany, where folk-art quality,
personal pride, and traditional methods
of production still rule. The Sorbian
Cultural Museum, housed in Bautzen's
historic Ortenburg Castle, provides a
good introduction to both the unique
Slavonic heritage of the region and the
character of the district's pottery. As the
local potters of the Oberlausitz assimilat-
ed the popular spongeware decorative
motifs of the Silesian neighbors, they
incorporated into their artistic vocabu-
lary the folkloric approaches of their
Sorbian surroundings. The pottery of the
Oberlausitz is Bunzlauer in style, but it's
Bunzlauer Ware with a difference.

A short distance from Bunzlau in the
direction of Dresden is the ceramic cen-
ter of Neukirch, where three family-run
potteries, all founded in the last century,
are still in operation. The oldest of these,
founded in 1824, is that of the
Kannegiesser family. Today, potters at
two electric wheels turn out bowls, pitch-
ers, plates, cruet sets, mustard pots, and
other decorative items with brightly
sponged or painted organic designs set
against a dark blue ground. Not far away
is the affluent pottery of Karl Louis
Lehmann, established in 1834. When we
visited, the packing room was filled with
orders destined forcommercial or pri-
vate customers from all over Germany
and beyond. On the third level of the
attractive and wellit workshop, three
potters were busy turning the clay, two
specialists were applying handles to
vases and pitchers, and six others were
daubing on the wide range of traditional
decorations. At the far end of town lies
the third and most recent (1866) of
Neukirch's potteries, that of the Heinke
family.

Chiefpotter Matthias Förster (his
mother was a Heinke) laments the hard
times the potteries have been going
through, but remains optimistic for the
future of his craft. Today, two electric
kilns are in use, firing the production of
three wheels and two decorators. Förster
hopes, once again, to be able to put into
use the pottery's old and labor-intensive,
coal-burning kiln that remained in opera-
tion until 1970. For the moment he can-
not afford the workers needed, but he
dreams of the greater quality it promises.

To the northwest of Neukirch and
north of Dresden, just off the E55 to
Berlin, lies the town of Königsbrück,
once home to as many as 21 indepen-
dent potteries and a tradition dating
back to 1605. Their only survivor is the
pottery of the Frommhold family, which
was founded in 1851 and rebuilt from
the ruins of World War II. Fifth-genera-
tion potter Jens Frommhold finds elec-
tric kilns too expensive to operate at
today's prices and so continues to burn
his ware in a large "walk-in," coal-fired
kiln. Jens and his father, Johannes, do
most of the actual turning at kick wheels
with the greenware being decorated by
two women specialists. The Frommholds
take pride in traditional shapes for both
their brown-slip and peacock's eyes pro-
duction. What they turn out is "classic"
Bunzlauer.

Two other Bunzlauer-style potteries
in eastern Germany are better reached
from Berlin than Bautzen. They lie just
off the E30 between Berlin and
Magdeburg in the little town of Görzke.
There, the Wagner and Ludwig families
operate successful potteries, both found-
ed in 1746. The two firms produce not
only brown-slip jugs, crocks, bowls, cake
forms, and two-handled strainers, but
also fancier and smaller vessels covered
with the Pfauenauge patterns of the
Bunzlauer tradition.

American visitors to those traditional
potshops still functioning in contempo-
rary eastern Germany will find an atmos-
phere remarkably similar to that found
among the folk potteries still in opera-
tion in the American South. Aside from
the language and some technical differ-
ences in kiln types, fuels, and, of course,
decorating preferences, the Southern
traditional potter would feel quite at
home.