Unique Hutsul ceramics from the private collections of the Lviv Institute of Collecting. These world-class masterpieces created by the Ukrainian folk genius are our cultural calling card in the world. The tiles and bowls of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which were once admired by Emperor Franz Joseph himself, are now freely available on our website.
Kosiv and the village of Pistyn are centers for pottery in the Hutsul region — this corner of the world is particularly rich in high-quality clay. Hutsul craftsmen had their own expressively distinct style — glazed tiles and bowls painted with vibrant green and yellow
paints would give one the impression that they were mixed with the springtime sun. Flowers, totemic animals, people, saints, and whole scenes of events were represented on tiles due to a unique technique of engraving. Hutsul ceramics are also distinguished for their streaking of colors. At first this might seem like the mistake of an amateur craftsman. But in truth it is a unique manifestation of folk-genius which makes these works even more valuable.
In dimly lit Hutsul homes with their small windows and low roofs these shiny bowls and tiles were indeed a source of the sun, acting on its behalf as every sun beam or flicker from a wood-burning stove would glow and shimmer upon the glazed ceramic surfaces.
Hutsul ceramics were in demand in Romania and Hungary. So much so it’s said that Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph himself contracted a stove to be made by the master craftsman Oleksa Bakhmatiuk and this stove is now displayed in one of Vienna castles.
