Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst. Bestandskataloge.Bd.3

"The palace, however, was suffering from such poverty at the time, that not a single bowl or goblet there was made of gold or silver, but some were made of tin and the rest of ceramic or clay" (Nikephoros Gregoras, Historia Rhomaïke, Kap. XV, 3-4).
Cooking, transport and strorage of food, eating and drinking are primary activities of everyday life. Not just since Nikephoros in the 14th century, but certainly at all times people most commonly used ceramic for the storage, preparation and serving of food. Ceramic, therefore, represents everyday culture, which can often not be illuminated from other sources, like no other type of findings. Clay is a cheap material used by potters to make functional storage containers, simple plates and bowls, as well as labour-intensive, elaborate, high-quality tableware.
Every pottery has a characteristic composition of the raw material clay and makes types of vessels according to the current fashion, covers the surfaces in varied ways with differently mixed engobe and enamel in different colours. The forms and motifs of decoration are individually designed in each workshop, even if the taste of the period can be seen in all pieces to a certain extent. These specific characteristics help to place vessels in a period and a manufacture. They are also an indicator of the prevalent table manners and of the social environment of the owner. The decorative images on the ceramic, with their mostly traditional character, represent the craft of the general population and not the high art of the aristocracy. They therefore represent the aesthetic feelings of the masses and illustrate the taste of the population.
The over 1300 vessels and fragments of the Berlin Museum represent an exceptional range of the ceramic of the Byzantine period and also offer a perspective into the production of Ottoman times and neighbouring cultures, which were influenced by Byzantine pottery traditions. This catalogue thus offers an ideal insight into the