Bodin
These four pots and the lower part of a polished jug are part of the household vessels of a Slav family which seems to have abandoned its home in haste, judging by the fact that all the vessels were found on the floor near the stone stove in a sunken house. The pots differ from one another, which shows that they were procured for specific purposes and from five potters, each of whom introduced into his product elements of the tradition from the place of his origin. Traces of influences from Great Moravia are discernible on one pot, another can be associated with the south Pannonian ware, the third is the work of a Slav potter from the surroundings of Belgrade, and the fourth comes from a workshop in the Lower Danubian region. The jug conforms to the tradition of Bulgarian potters.
The vessels may have been bought from some trader or from the potters themselves, perhaps on a market day in the town's marketplace. They date from the middle of the 10th century, as is shown by the grape-like "Belgrade-type" earring which was found in the layer of earth which covered the abandoned house in the second half of the 10th century. The "Belgrade-type" earrings show that this area was a centre of crafts, trade and fashion.
On the one side of this reliquary is a cast representation of the Crucifixion surrounded by medallions containing busts of saints. Above Christ's nimbus is the monogram IX (Jesus Christ) and under his hands is an illegible inscription. On the other side of the reliquary is the Virgin with Child on her left arm, surrounded by busts of saints in medallions. The two-line text on the transverse arms of the cross is not legible. This type of reliquary, particularly popular in Russia, was made in the Kiev workshops until the invasion of the Tatars in 1240. Their frequent occurrence in the territory of Belgrade should be probably attributed to the Russians who, led by Prince Rostislav Mihailovich of Chernygorsk, the first governor of Slavonia and Mačva, settled in these territories in the middle of the 13th century.
The ware made in medieval workshops in Belgrade was based on the Slav heritage. The influence of Byzantine craftsmen became more conspicuous from the 12th century on, and the specific Serbian features appear in the tableware from the time of King Dragutin and the turn of the 14th century. From that time on the work of Belgrade potters is distinguished by distinct forms of bowls, which retained their specific features until the fall of the town into the Turkish hands.
This stamp for the Eucharistic bread is noteworthy because it is the earliest and the only known example of its kind in the middle Danubian region. Instead of the customary formula, the stamp bears (in the negative) a very unusual Greek inscription: ANTQIAC KACTAC. A free interpretation of this might be: "Be Antonians" or "Return to Antonius". This appeal for the return to the primitive Christian Church might have been addressed by St Atanasius, author of The Life of St Antonius, to Ursacius, the Arian bishop of Singidunumin 344. It was in that year that the great teacher of the Eastern Church came to the town and transferred the relics of the Singidunum martyrs to Aquileia, a classical town near Venice.
These martyrs were probably St Donatus and St Fortunatus, who had suffered martyrdom in Singidunum in Diocletian's first persecution of Christians in 303/4 A.D. By removing the relics of the patrons of the town, St Atanasius wanted to punish its inhabitants and censure its ecclesiastical dignitaries for apostasy. As a good teacher, however, he left a reminder of the path leading back to orthodoxy. That piece of instruction, seen in daily services in the impression on the Eucharistic bread, the body of Christ used in the Holy Communion, has been preserved on this bronze stamp to the present day.
The Starčevo ware was hand-made and had very simple and purely functional globular or semiglobular forms. The process of modelling in clay makes it possible to trace a kind of stylistic development in the manner the vessel is shaped and ornamented, and therefore it is even possible to speak of the art and style of the Neolithic epoch. In decorating his vessels, the potter gave free play to his imagination and used various techniques of ornamentation. Thus we find white and red painted ornaments with spiral and net-like designs, the barbotine technique (adding thick slips to the vessel for decorative effect) and impressed ornaments executed in various ways.
This bowl from Grabovac is an exceptionally good example of a vessel with impressed ornaments produced by finger and nails. The decoration is organized in such a way as to form the motif of an ear of grain, which imparts a particular beauty to the vessel. The way the vessel is shaped and decorated shows that pottery-making was not only the most important craft in the Neolithic, but also that it embodied the entire material and spiritual life of the people of that time. Therefore we must regard pottery-making as an art and seek to discover in its products elements common to all works of art.