Maiolica/maɪˈɒlɪkə/ istin-glazed pottery decorated in colours on a white background. The most renowned maiolica is from theRenaissance period. These works were known asistoriato wares ("painted with stories") when depicting historical and mythical scenes. Its origins date from paintedHispano-Moresque ware from Spain, developing the styles ofAl-Andalus. By the late 15th century, multiple locations were producing sophisticated pieces for a luxury market.[1] In Italy, the production arose in the northern and central regions. In France, maiolica developed asfaience, in the Netherlands and England asdelftware, and in Spain astalavera. In English, the spelling was anglicised tomajolica (/maɪˈɒlɪkə/).
The name is thought to come from the medieval Italian word forMajorca, an island on the route for ships bringingHispano-Moresque wares fromValencia to Italy.Moorish potters from Majorca are reputed to have worked in Sicily, and it has been suggested that their wares reached the Italian mainland fromCaltagirone.[2] An alternative explanation of the name is that it comes from the Spanish termobra deMálaga, denoting "[imported] wares from Málaga",[3] orobra de mélequa, the Spanish name for lustre.[4]
In the 15th century, the termmaiolica referred solely tolustreware, including both Italian-made and Spanish imports, and tin-glaze wares were known asbianchi (whiteware).[4] By 1875, the term was in use describing ceramics made in Italy, lustred or not, of tin-glazed earthenware.[5] With theSpanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, tin-glazed maiolica wares came to be produced in the Valley of Mexico as early as 1540, at first in imitation of tin-glazed pottery imported fromSeville.[6] Mexican maiolica is known famously as 'Talavera'.
"By a convenient extension and limitation the name may be applied to all tin-glazed ware, of whatever nationality, made in the Italian tradition ... the namefaïence (or the synonymous English 'delftware') being reserved for the later wares of the 17th Century onwards, either in original styles (as in the case of the French) or, more frequently, in the Dutch-Chinese (Delft) tradition."[7] The term "maiolica" is sometimes applied to modern tin-glazed ware made by studio potters.[8]
Tin glazing creates a white, opaque surface for painting. The colours are applied as metallicoxides or asfritted underglazes to the unfired glaze, which absorbs pigment likefresco, making errors impossible to fix but preserving the brilliant colors. Sometimes the surface is covered with a second glaze (calledcoperta by the Italians) that lends greater shine and brilliance to the wares. In the case of lustred wares, a further oxygen-starved firing at a lower temperature is required. Kilns required wood as well as suitable clay. Glaze was made from sand,wine lees, lead compounds, and tin compounds.[9] Tin-glazed earthenware is frequently prone to flaking and somewhat delicate.[10]
Analysis of samples of Italian maiolica pottery from the Middle Ages has indicated that tin was not always a component of the glaze, whose chemical composition varied.[11]
The fifteenth-century wares that initiated maiolica as an art form were the product of an evolution in which medievallead-glazed earthenwares were improved by the addition of tin oxides under the influence of Islamic wares imported through Sicily.[12] Such archaic wares[13] are sometimes called "proto-maiolica".[14] During the later fourteenth century, the limited palette of colours for earthenware decorated with coloured lead glazes (no added tin oxide) was expanded from the traditionalmanganese purple andcopper green to includecobalt blue,antimony yellow andiron-oxide orange.Sgraffito wares were also produced, in which the white tin-oxide glaze was scratched through to produce a design from the revealed body of the ware. Scrap sgraffito ware excavated from kilns inBacchereto,Montelupo, andFlorence show that such wares were produced more widely than atPerugia andCittà di Castello, the places to which they have been traditionally attributed.[15]
Maiolica ceramics was a chance discovery by the Arabs when attempting to create a porcelain similar to that made in China withkaolin.[16] The first maiolica were made with a yellowish terracotta, covered with enamel composed of a layer of lead-glazed paint mixed withquartz powder. The majolicas produced by Islamic peoples, in their initial stage, were decorated with pigments composed of cobalt oxide (blue) andcopper ormanganese, depending on whether a green or brown color was desired: the so-calledcerámica verde y manganeso (green and manganese ceramics, in Spanish). This art of glazing first spread through North Africa and was later adopted by the Arabs of Spain in the so-calledHispano-Moresque ware.[17]
Refined production of tin-glazed earthenwares made for more than local needs was concentrated in central Italy from the later thirteenth century, especially in thecontada ofFlorence. TheDella Robbia family of Florentine sculptors also adopted the medium. The city itself declined in importance as a centre of maiolica production in the second half of the fifteenth century, perhaps because of localdeforestation, and manufacture was scattered among small communes,[18] and, after the mid-fifteenth century, atFaenza.
Potters from Montelupo set up the potteries at Cafaggiolo. In 1490,[19] twenty-three master potters ofMontelupo agreed to sell the year's production toFrancesco Antinori of Florence; Montelupo provided the experienced potters who were set up in 1495 at theVilla Medicea di Cafaggiolo by itsMedici owners.[20]
In the fifteenth century, Florentine wares spurred the production of maiolica atArezzo andSiena.
Italian maiolica reached an astonishing degree of perfection in this period. In Romagna,Faenza, which gave its name tofaience, produced fine maiolica from the early fifteenth century; it was the only significant city in which the ceramic production industry became a major part of the economy.[21]Bologna produced lead-glazed wares for export.Orvieto andDeruta both producedmaioliche in the fifteenth century.
In the sixteenth century, maiolica production was established atCastel Durante,Urbino,Gubbio andPesaro. The early sixteenth century saw the development ofistoriato wares on which historical and mythical scenes were painted in great detail. The State Museum of Medieval and Modern Art inArezzo claims to have Italy's largest collection ofistoriato wares.[citation needed]Istoriato wares are also well represented in theBritish Museum, London.
Some maiolica was produced as far north asPadua,Venice andTurin and as far south asPalermo andCaltagirone in Sicily[22] and Laterza in Apulia. In the seventeenth century,Savona began to be a prominent place of manufacture.
The variety of styles that arose in the sixteenth century defies classification.[1] Goldthwaite notes[23] that Paride Berardi's morphology of Pesaro maioliche comprises four styles in 20 sub-groups; Tiziano Mannoni categorized Ligurian wares in four types, eight sub-categories, and 36 further divisions; Galeazzo Cora's morphology of Montelupo's production is in 19 groups and 51 categories. The diversity of styles can best be seen in a comparative study ofapothecary jars produced between the 15th and 18th centuries. Italian cities encouraged the pottery industry by offering tax relief, citizenship, monopoly rights, and protection from outside imports.
An important mid-sixteenth century document for the techniques of maiolica painting is the treatise ofCipriano Piccolpasso.[24] The work of individual sixteenth-century masters likeNicola da Urbino,Francesco Xanto Avelli,Guido Durantino andOrazio Fontana of Urbino,Mastro Giorgio of Gubbio and Maestro Domenigo of Venice has been noted. Gubbio lustre used greenish yellow, strawberry pink, and ruby red colours.
The tradition of fine maiolica came under increasing competition in the 18th century, mainly fromporcelain and white earthenware. But the 18th century is not a period of relentless decline.[25] To face the competition from porcelain and its vibrant colours, the process of third firing (piccolo fuoco) was introduced, initially in North-West Europe around the mid of century. After the traditional two firings at 950 °C, the vitrified glaze was painted with colours that would have degraded at such high temperatures and was fired a third time at a lower temperature, about 600-650 °C. New vibrant colours were thus introduced, particularly red and various shades of pink obtained fromgold chloride.[26][27] It is believed that one of the first to introduce this technique in Italy was Ferretti inLodi, in northern Italy.[26]Lodi maiolica had already reached high quality in the second quarter of the 18th century. With the introduction of the third firing technique and increasing interest in botany and scientific observation, a refined production of maiolica decorated with naturalistic flowers was developed.[26]
Italian maiolica remains commonly produced in many centres infolk art forms and reproductions of the historical style. Some of the principal centers of production (e.g.Deruta andMontelupo) still produce maiolica, which is sold worldwide. Modern maiolica looks different from old maiolica because its glaze is usually opacified with the cheaperzircon rather than tin. However, some potteries specialise in making authentic-looking Renaissance-style pieces with genuine tin glaze.
…however highly majolica[tin-glazed] may be esteemed, it will always remain an article of luxury and ornament only…
mallorca was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
