Maiolica

“ ITALIAN MAIOLICA WHETHER one is a general collector or a collector of pottery and porcelain in particular, Italian maiolica will be found to be one of the most interesting of “lines,” historically as well as intrinsically. Pottery, both soft and hard, is distinct from porcelain, although the term “old china” is commonly used to embrace the whole field of ceramics—unfortunately, I think, as it is of importance to the collector to be precise in the matter of definitions. ”

“ He built a noble castellated palace at Urbino, for the embellishment of which he invited the leading artists of the day. A patron of all art, and a great collector, he encouraged the manufacture of the maiolica wares which flourished under his reign. On his death in 1482 his son Guidobaldo I. continued his father’s patronage to the ceramic artists of the duchy, although much occupied in the Italian wars consequent on the French invasion by Charles VIII. Passeri states that fine maiolica (by which he means that covered with the tin enamel) was introduced into Pesaro in 1500 ”

“ Italian Maiolica.—Maiolica is a word derived from a type of pottery made on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The 17th-century Italian maiolica-ware found at Jamestown is a red-body earthenware with scratched or incised designs—a true sgraffito-ware. Somewhat similar in appearance to the English sgraffito-ware, the desired design was scratched through the cream-colored slip, revealing the reddish-brown body beneath. On many examples, colorful lines were hand painted over or near the incised designs, usually in reds, yellows, and greens, and were covered with a transparent lead glaze. ”

“ We think with M. Jacquemart, M. Darcel, Mr. J. C. Robinson, and others, that the word maiolica should be again restricted to the lustred wares, although in Italy and elsewhere it is habitually used to designate all the numerous varieties of glazed earthenware, with the exception of the more common “terraglia” and in distinction from porcelain.
The Germans ascribe the discovery of the tin enamel glazing to a potter of Schelestadt, in Alsace, whose name is unknown but who died in the year 1283 ”

“ Few of the painters were in the habit of marking their work; and, when they did, their marks seem to have had no uniformity, and were varied in many whimsical ways. Those who wish to buy pieces of maiolica, unless they have made the matter a study, will hardly do it without consulting a person of experience; and a person of experience will not be guided solely by the marks.
It can do no harm to say that admirable counterfeits are now made, both in Italy and in France (probably also in Germany) , of the finest{120} of the old maiolicas, design, color, and all complete. ”

“ It is far from being high praise. I venture to say, in addition, that much, very much, of what I have had the opportunity to see, strikes me forcibly as being crude and poor in color, bad in drawing, uninteresting in design, and wretched in clay and in glaze. Not that there are not good and beautiful works among the maiolicas; but it seems to me they are few.
Besides this, I believe the great maiolica-painters, such as Xanto and Giorgio, were wholly wrong in attempting to transfer to pottery{121} the pictures of Raffaelle and Giulio Romano ”

“ Mr. Fortnum thinks it 38was painted by the same artist that executed the famous service of maiolica of which seventeen pieces are in the Museo Correr at Venice. The tazza at Fig. 34 is ascribed to the Faenza fabriques. It is as much Gothic as Italian in design, which is the case sometimes in Northern Italian art, and it has been found also that the “istoriati” maiolica of Faenza has more of its subjects from the engravings of German artists’ works, such as Dürer, Martin Schon, and others, than the pottery of any other Italian fabrique. ”

“ The year 1490 began a period of great activity in the Castel-Durante fabriques, and we hear of many artists who were Durantine maiolica painters going to various parts of Europe and establishing works in pottery. Tesio and Gatti went to Corfu in 1530, and taught the art in the Ionian Islands; Francesco de Vasaro went to Venice, where he was eminently successful in developing 32the Venetian phase of maiolica; others went to Nevers and Lyons, in France, and one to Antwerp. The artist who styled himself “Francesco” of Urbino, and who also worked at Perugia, sometimes signed his works “Durantino.” ”

“ The art of maiolica flourished likewise in Ferrara, Rimini, and Ravenna. The Umbrian potters probably did not adopt the use of white stanniferous glaze before the close of the fifteenth century.
Federigo, who succeeded to the Duchy of Urbino in 1444, was a patron of the arts and a great collector. ”

“ We are obliged to refer the reader to the large catalogue, in detail, of the South Kensington collection of maiolica, for an account of the works of the more important of these artists under their respective names, beginning with Nicola as the earliest of whom we have known examples; the Fontana family, and of Guido Durantino; the works of Fra Xanto; of Francesco Durantino; of the Patanazzi; not omitting those of other artists of the fabrique, of whom we have smaller record in remaining examples or documentary history. ”

“ THE term Maiolica, or Majolica, as has been often explained, came from the island of Majorca, whence came to Italy, in the twelfth century, some of those peculiar potteries already described under the name of Hispano-Moresque.
The Balearic Islands, lying in such convenient proximity to the mainland, were then possessed by the active and enterprising Moors—that most daring and doing race, who had planted the standard of the Prophet in Southern Europe. From these convenient islands they could organize pleasant surprises upon the coasts of Italy, and gratify themselves with much plunder. ”

“ Italian Maiolica. About the year 1450 the Sforzi, the Lords of Pesaro, established at the latter place Maiolica factories, and a decree, dated 1st of April, 1486, was published, granting certain privileges to the ceramists of Pesaro. ”

“ They still make there, as they always did, maiolica, fine and common, and terraglia faience, in considerable quantities and of much excellence, called in France terre de pipe. This terraglia, it may be said, is a sort of demi-porcelain, being made of a mixture of the true porcelain clay and the native potter’s clay. It is susceptible of great precision of modeling and of a high finish, and some beautiful work has been done in it in Italy.{282}
Fig. ”

“ Although much modified and improved, lustre colours were not invented by Italian artists, but were derived from the potters of the east, probably from the Moors of Sicily, of Spain, or of Majorca. Hence (we once more repeat) the name “Majolica” was originally applied only to wares having the lustre enrichment; but since the decline of the{113} manufacture, the term has been more generally given: all varieties of Italian enamelled pottery being usually, though wrongly, known as “Maiolica.”
The Gubbio fabrique was in full work previous to 1518 ”

“ It was this town that gave to the French the name by which they have to the present day distinguished their enamelled pottery, as Spain had previously supplied the name to Italy. Thus in Italy it was called maiolica from Maiorca, and in France, faïence from Faenza. The earliest dated piece now extant is probably a plate in the Musée de Cluny, dated 1475, made by Nicolaus de Ragnolis. Another specimen, in the Sèvres Museum, is inscribed “Nicolaus Orsini, 1477”; and in the same collection is a plate, signed “Don Giorgio, 1485,” probably by Maestro Giorgio.
Fig. 12.—Plaque. ”

“ We have no assurance that purely native Roman art ever attained to any very high degree of excellence. The Etruscans and the Greeks in Pagan times, the Byzantine school of the middle ages, and at the period of the renaissance the great Tuscan and Venetian artists worked in Rome upon those monuments of genius of which she is so justly proud; but they are possessions rather than native productions; and it would appear that even in so comparatively small a branch of artistic manufacture she was indebted to a native of Castel Durante for the establishment of a fabrique of maiolica. ”

“ The pottery of Egypt, the faience of Assyria and Persia, the Greek and Etruscan vases, the famous red ware from the Isle of Samoa, and its counterpart the Roman Samian ware, the beautiful maiolica of Spain and Italy, the pottery of Rouen, St. Porchaire, Delft, and most of our English pottery are earthenwares; the paste or body consists of natural clays selected for their plasticity, their hardening qualities, their fusibility or their colour, and when burnt have a porous opaque body, usually dull in colour. ”

“ The most important examples which have reached us consist of bowls of different sizes, dishes, vases (Plate lxx.) , tinajas, holy-water vessels, medicine jars, and wall decoration. Blue oriental china was imitated to a vast extent: the colouring was successful, but the design was an imitation of the baroque school of the time, and the figures, landscapes, and decoration follow the bad taste so general in Spain in the eighteenth century. The imitations of Italian maiolica are effective. The colours most commonly used are manganese, orange, blue, and green. ”

“ While some of the utilitarian earthenware was made at Jamestown, most of the pottery that has been found was imported from England. Many types also came from other European countries, including Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. One kind of maiolica may have been made in Mexico, while the few fragments of porcelain recovered were made in China. ”

“ We engrave here (Fig. 140) a beautiful bocca, or pitcher, fifteen inches high, of this porcelain, which is in the collection of the Baron de Rothschild. The decoration resembles the style of maiolica known{277} as Raffaelesque; the body is white and the painting of a light blue. The handle is a crown, formed by uniting those of the Medici and of Austria. The less beautiful pieces are described as “coarse, opaque, and of a bluish gray, the glaze thick and vitreous.” This china was something between hard and soft.
Whether this production of Italy is really porcelain, is open to doubt. ”

“ Other manufactories were started in the 18th century.
The fayences of the first epoch, 1600 to 1660, have frequently been confounded with Italian [Pg 57] maiolica, but a little attention will show the points of difference. In the Nevers ware the figures are always yellow on blue ground; the Italian figures are usually blue on yellow. At Nevers red or metallic lustre was never employed, and the outlines are always traced in manganese violet, never in purple or black. During the second epoch, the ground was a peculiar lapis-lazuli blue, like the Persian colour called bleu de Perse ”

“ The manufactory of Castelli, a small town in the Abruzzi, north of the city of Naples, was still flourishing towards the end of the 17th century. Francesco [Pg 28] Saverio Grue, a man of letters and science, became about this time director of this Neapolitan maiolica fabrique. The ware was boldly ornamented with subjects, correctly designed and well painted; sometimes the landscapes were delicately heightened with gold. His sons and brothers continued to add lustre to his name for nearly a century. ”

“ The “Raffaelle ware,” as it is sometimes called in England, had a quality of design which is peculiar, and therefore an example of it may be of service here (Fig. 70) . The combination of scrolls, masks, Cupids, flowers, buds, etc., which marks this style of work, is found more or less to pervade much of the ornamentation of what is known as Italian Renaissance.
Fig. 69.—Example of Amatorii.
It has sometimes been said that Raffaelle himself painted upon the maiolica, but it is not proved; and the finest pieces were not made until after his death. ”

“ In 1766 Pasqual took his son, Giovanni Battista Antonibon, into partnership, and in 1781 Sig. Parolini joined the concern, continuing the fabrication with great success until 1802, when they leased the premises to Giovanni Baroni, and the business was carried on under the name of Fabbrica Baroni Nove. It was prosperous for a short time, and some beautiful examples were produced.
Fig. 26.—Tureen and Cover.
18th Century.
[Pg 26] Maiolica fina or fayence only is still continued to be made, the manufacture of porcelain, for which at one time the works were so famed, not having been revived. ”

“ Balearic islands: but not being an “expert” in ceramic productions, after praising the porcelain recently brought from China, admires what he calls their imitations made at Majorca. “We call them (he says) ‘majolica,’ changing one letter in the name of the island where we are assured that the most beautiful are{79} made:” an interesting testimony to the importation of these wares into Italy and the knowledge of their origin, as also to the derivation of the term applied to the home manufacture of Pesaro and Gubbio. ”

“ Glazed wares of polychrome and subject decoration were no doubt produced before the introduction of the lustre colours and, judging from examples which have come down to us, the forms seem to have been partially derived from Persian, Hispano-moresque, and other oriental originals; deep dishes with angular sides and narrow rims; others with a wide border or side sloping at a gradual angle from the small circular centre. The gothic element is, however, traceable on some early pieces of north Italian origin. ”

“ This is the method by which the ware known at the present time as majolica [Pg 78] is produced. Blue and green glazes of this kind are frequently to be obtained in potteries in this country, where they may be applied to work which has been modeled. Other colors in majolica glazes are to be had from the dealers, and if the colors desired can not be applied at the pottery, the artist can apply them with a brush in the same manner as paint is used upon the biscuit. The effect of work of this kind can also be enhanced by gilding put on over the glaze. ”