#Exhibit of the Month

German porcelain is highly prized among antique collectors for its exceptional material quality, originality, and the meticulous craftsmanship of its decorative design.
The museum's collection preserves five figurines from one of the oldest porcelain manufactories in the Thuringia region of Germany - the statuary group known as *"The Musicians"*, crafted at the Volkstedt manufactory. These pieces entered the museum's holdings in 1991, acquired from a resident of Chișinău. With undeniable historical and artistic value, they bear the distinct imprint of the Rococo style.
The Volkstedt manufactory has a long-standing tradition in producing figurines, including those depicting musicians. In 1760, Georg Heinrich Macheleid - inventor of hard-paste porcelain in Thuringia - founded a production workshop in Zitzendorf, which was relocated to Volkstedt in 1762. Macheleid led the manufactory until 1764. Over time, the factory changed ownership and management multiple times. Under the direction of Christian Nonne, it flourished between 1767 and 1797, a period marked by significant artistic development. Volkstedt began creating figurines that would later gain international recognition.
It was during this flourishing period that the museum's porcelain statuettes, titled *"The Musicians"*, were produced. They depict five “putti”: four playing musical instruments (flute, mandolin, horn, and pipe), while the fifth conducts. Each figurine is entirely handcrafted - from modeling to painting - and delicately adorned with pastel tones and gilded details, capturing the playful movement and refined artistry of each musician. The base is made of mass-colored porcelain in a rare grey-green hue. The contrast between green, white, and gold accents lends the ensemble an unusually delicate appearance. These ornamental features are characteristic of the Rococo style, which emerged in France and is closely associated with the reign of King Louis XV.

The mark applied to the figurines consists of two crossed forks, clearly rendered in underglaze blue, with slightly blurred paint - a detail that helps date their production. Because the crossed forks often resembled the crossed swords of the Meissen trademark, the Volkstedt manufactory was compelled to change its mark starting in 1787. Initially represented by a single fork, the mark briefly returned to two forks before being replaced in 1800 by the graphic symbol "R", referencing the town of Rudolstadt. Therefore, the brief period during which the two-fork mark was reinstated - and during which the museum's figurines were likely produced - is estimated to be between 1787 and 1800.

The statuettes range in height from 10 to 18 cm and are preserved in relatively good condition.

These late 18th-century German porcelain pieces, now on display, are exceptionally rare. They stand as true works of art by German craftsmen and serve as important historical testimonies to the evolution of porcelain manufacturing in Germany.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

„The clock over time”

May 18, 2017 – May 18, 2018

The exhibition is the result of research of the collection of watches from the National Museum of History of Moldova. The 150 watches displayed in the exhibition for the public reveal the evolution of the means of measuring time and of their makers as this activity was a constant concern and passion of man since Antiquity. The most valuable piece in the exhibition is the clock, as a heritage object, remarkable both by the sophisticated technique and the value of the materials used, as well as by the personality of their owners. It is a pioneering exhibition; a large part of the collection of watches (more than two hundred pieces) is being exhibited for the first time. The collection on display consists of various types of watches classified according to the method of operation and use.

The objects in the exhibition are authentic, original, part of them have undergone through restoration and conservation procedure, and therefore some of them are functional. Chronologically, the pieces in the exhibition are dated to the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century.

Typologically, the most attractive are the wall and floor clocks from the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, whose mechanisms are housed in impressive boxes (furniture type), made by well-known watchmakers and companies like Gustav Becker, Junghans, Philip Haas, Le roi à Paris, Lenzkirch, and others. In the ambiance of the museum space are exhibited watches of historical value: the wall clock from the Chisinau Real School (by M. Karcevski), the wall clock from the headquarters of the first working-class club in the city of Balta, the clock at the Railway Station From the town of Tighina (Bender). A special value has the wall clock which belonged to the family of Ivan Şpiller, a well-known watchmaker from Chișinău with Austrian origins, who in the middle of the 19th century had one of the largest and most important clock stores in the city. He was one of the craftsmen who "took care" of the clock on the Arch of Triumph during the years 1842-1849 and 1853-1862.

A very interesting history have also the office and fireplace clocks, followed by pocket watches, originally considered as a men's accessory, later replaced by wristwatches.

A special place in the museum exhibition is held by the watches of memorial value: the watch belonging to Zinaida Radu-Maiorova (1890-?) and Dumitru Remenco (1895-1940), Bessarabians participants in the Great War (1914-1918), the watches of academician Nicolae Dimo (1873-1959), writer Petrea Darienco (1923-1976), well-known archaeologist and museographer Vsevolod Marchevici (1917-1997), musicologist Serafim Buzilă (1937-1998) and others.

The exhibition is complemented by mini-vintage interiors and photographic images.