TRADITIONAL FORMS AND DECORATION OF CRIMEAN TATAR CERAMIC WATER VESSELS

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of traditional forms of Crimean Tatar ceramic vessels designed for the storage, transportation, pouring, and ritual use of water. Based on published ethnographic descriptions, A. Ibrahimova’s typology, archaeological research by I. Teslenko, and materials by A. Zaatov and R. Skybin, five main types of water-carrying vessels have been identified: güğüm, suraıl (surahi), kuman, hum, and yıbrık, and a comparative morphological analysis of these types has been conducted. The relationship between the functional purpose of the vessels and the characteristics of their forms, neck construction, handles, and the presence or absence of glaze has been examined. Special attention is given to decorative techniques – engraving, sgraffito, engobe painting, applied (relief) décor – as well as to the principle of deliberate absence of glaze as an integral functional characteristic of water-carrying pottery. The role of water ceramics is considered within the context of Islamic ritual practice (abdest), traditional horticulture (irrigation in chaır gardens), and the everyday life of Crimean Tatars. It has been established that ceramic production on the Crimean Peninsula has a centuries-long history, and that the formation of Crimean Tatar pottery traditions occurred under the influence of Byzantine, Caucasian, Persian, and Mediterranean cultures. It is demonstrated that the morphology of ceramic water vessel forms consistently embodies the principle of «form follows function», since the configuration of the neck (funnel-shaped in the güğüm, tulip-shaped with a filtering collar in the suraıl, tall with a spout in the kuman, wide and open in the hum), the type of spout, the shape of the base, and the placement of handles are directly determined by the vessel’s mode of use. It has been found that water vessels encompass three key spheres of traditional Crimean Tatar culture: domestic (daily transportation and storage of water), ritual (the Islamic practice of abdest), and agrarian (the system of storage and drip irrigation in chaır gardens by means of hums buried in the soil). It is concluded that the multifunctionality of ceramic water vessels attests to the deep integration of the pottery craft into all aspects of the life of the Crimean Tatar people.