Ceramics

The Italian majolica so valued by the Renaissance had its European beginnings in southern Spain, near Valencia (in Catalonia), and its origins in the Islamic world. The name majolica derived from the name of the Spanish island Majorca. Arab ceramists had discovered a method that used coated tin oxide in the glazing process that resulted in a brilliant surface. Because glass was such a luxury, ceramics and pottery resembling glass were in demand. Ceramic workshops in Italy did not know how to make luster-ware during the 15th century, but in the early 16th century, the Deruta factory in Umbria (central Italy) discovered a profitable method of producing it by double-firing the vessel. With the 15th-century expansion of trade with the East, ceramic factories such as that in Deruta had access to a greater spectrum of colors as new pigments were imported. With its new lusterware technique, Deruta exported more pottery during the 16th century than in any other century until the 1900s. This factory, one of the few for which a detailed history has been published, exemplifies the extraordinary market for Italian ceramics during the second half of the Renaissance. During this period, the painted motifs of Deruta combined the factory’s signature fish-scale design with classical imagery taken from prints, heraldry, and foliate designs.

Ceramic tiles were produced in both Italy and Spain; there was minimal local production in Portugal by the end of the 16th century. Lusterware tiles, the most expensive, were used sparingly in wall decoration and almost never for floors. Until the early 16th century, Spanish tiles were ornamented only with the geometric shapes preferred by Arab artisans who worked in the tile factories. The designs were painted on or created by raised and stamped shapes. Francisco Niculoso (“El Pisano,” d. 1529), an Italian potter, introduced the decorative motifs of Italian Renaissance ceramics to Seville near the turn of the century. His main contribution to Iberian ceramics was the Italian concept of using many tiles to compose a single large picture. His altarpiece made in 1504 for a chapel in the Alcazar, Seville, is such a scene, framed by grotesques.