Objects

A Shabbat pot (Polish: szabasówka, szabaśnik, szabaska) - a bulging clay pot with two handles and a lid that was used for cooking ceremonial dishes. Such pots were used to prepare and hold food for holidays, especially for the Sabbath, when most work, including lighting fires, was forbidden. Most often, cholent was prepared in them, which could be baked in the oven at home or taken to a nearby bakery for that purpose.

The displayed pot was made in Urzędów-Bęczyn by a local potter Jan Gajewski (1889-1994) and purchased from him for the collection of the Lublin Open Air Village Museum in 1981. The pot was handmade using a potter's wheel, it was then fired to give it brick red colour. The outside is partially covered with a green lead glaze typical for official pottery (in this case, with the addition of copper oxide, which gives the effect of small spots). In addition to the glaze, which was of practical value, the decoration consists of two engraved lines running parallel to each other around the pot. The interior is fully glazed. It is not known whether the pot was made at the time when Jews still lived in Urzędów, or whether it is a copy of Gajewski's earlier works for Jewish clients. The item bears no visible signs of use in the kitchen.