Posts Tagged ‘14th century’

Ti-glazed earthenware was produced in France from at least the beginning of the 16th century when itinerant potters from Italy first introduced the technique. The ware is called “faience”, since much of the early ware resembled maiolica made in Faenza, Italy.
THE 16TH CENTURY
The dominant style for most of the 16th century was Italian; craftsmen from Italy appear to have settled in Lyons (1512), Nevers, Montpellier, and Nimes, and the output of these centres closely reflects the contemporary Italian polychrome maiolica of Urbino, Faenza, and Savona. The Italian istoriato (narrative) style is found on wares made in Lyons and Nevers, while the panelled a quartiery style associated with Faenza is seen on the faience of Nimes and Montpellier. However, in the north of France at Rouen around the middle of the century the work of Masseot Abaquesne (active 1526-59) is more sombre, and the designs show a strong affiliation with the Mannerist work of the Fontainebleau School. Early Rouen was noted for the manufacture of tiles some still extant in chateaux), albarelli (drug jars), saucer dishes, and flat-rimmed dishes.
THE 17TH CENTURY
The first half of the century continued to be dominated by the Italian tradition, but from the mid-17th century a more native French Baroque style developed. Mythological figures after contemporary prints were Popular subjects; drawn in a bold, muscular style in which ochre and blue are often dominant, they are somewhat livelier than their Italian istoriato predecessors. Dishes, which greatly outnumber hollow-wares (except apothecaries’ wares), were typically embellished with heavy foliated borders, usually interrupted with cartouches enclosing diverse subjects. During the second quarter of the century the influence of imported Chinese porcelain is evident, both in decoration and in form, and consequently the “hot” Italian colours declined in favour of blue and white. Nevers was probably the most important centre until the last 20 years of the century and was one of the first French pottery centres to decorate its wares with Chinese motifs. Here the earliest manifestations are garbled versions of the many imported late Ming blueand-white wares. A large proportion of production was painted in cobalt blue, sometimes outlined in manganese brown with figures in the manner of Chinese Transitional porcelain. Alongside the Italianate and Chinese styles, faience with solid-coloured grounds was made, including, most commonly, bleu persan (Persian blue), cobalt, and, more rarely, ochre.
Rouen, close to Paris and the French court, developed as a prominent centre for faience at the end of the 17th century. The Rouen style of the late 17th and early 18th centuries is formal, utilizing intricate motifs resembling ironwork (forronerie) or lacework (lambrequin) but probably owing as much to contemporary Chinese ceramic ornament. The lambrequin rayonnant style, so-called because of its radiating “snowflake” complexity, was copied by many other manufacturers in France, including those in Strasbourg and Moustiers. At its height (c.1695-1725) Rouen combined this style with vessels based on the shapes of silverwares because the French nobility had been ordered to melt down its silver in order to finance the wars of Louis XIV. Faience therefore became a fashionable substitute for silver.
THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
Between c.1710 and 1720 polychrome wares became fashionable once again. For the next 20 or 30 years bold chinoiseries in high-fired (grand-feu) colours eclipsed the blue-and-white wares. From c.1750 low-fired (petit-feu) enamelled decoration became the focus of the leading faience factories of the day, located in Strasbourg, Niderviller, Luneville, Sceaux, and Marseilles. In an ultimately futile competition with porcelain, these manufacturers decorated their wares with botanical flowers, chinoiseries, and fantastical landscapes in the most delicate brushwork. Forms from the mid-18th century, in keeping with the innate intimacy of the Rococo, were diverse and lively, almost matching porcelain in some instances.
However, in the late 18th century, competition from porcelain and English creamware (cream-coloured earthenware) proved too much for faience manufacturers, and many failed around the turn of the century. Some potteries survived the onslaught from English creamware by manufacturing the same material, known
as faience fine, which although clean and crisp was never as creamy or warm as the English ware. In France, factories such as those in Creil, Pontaux-Choux, and Montereau, some active before the
mid-18th century, made great quantities of faience fine, thus helping to accelerate the decline of faience. Many of these factories decorated their wares with transfer-printing in the style of creamware from the Wedgwood factory (est. 1759) in Burslem, England.
By the mid-19th century Quimper was one of the few surviving faience factories in France, producing wares with simple figural subjects loosely imitative
of I 8th-century Rouen. Gien, active toward the end of the 19th century, appears to have concentrated on the manufacture of wares in revival styles, using printed designs based on classic Italian maiolica. The output of historicized faience was fairly limited as many factories preferred to produce the fashionable styles current in the dying years of the 19th century. The firm of Samson (est. 1845) in Paris made a wide range of good reproductions of faience. Although this factory applied the original marks, it usually put its own monogram alongside.
• BODY Rouen: red; Nevers and Marseilles: buff;
Strasbourg: creamy white; Moustiers: greyish
• GLAZE Strasbourg: thick and creamy white; Moustiers: creamy grey
• PALETTE “hot” colours inspired by Italian maiolica; from c.1625 blue and white inspired by imported Chinese porcelain; high-fired colours: cobalt blue, manganese purple, ochre, yellow, green, and iron red; enamels: from the late 1740s a wide range of colours
• DECORATION Rouen: lainbrequins and arabesques; Nevers: narrative style; Strasbourg: botanical studies; Marseilles: naturalistic flowers, bouillabaisse; Moustiers: potato flowers, fantastic creatures, Classical figures, and festoons
Marks
These were very randomly applied; marks arc usually the initials of the proprietor of the factory; most are in puce, blue, or black; care should be taken since marks of such collectable factories as Strasbourg, Sceaux, Marseilles,
Rouen, Lille, and Nevers have been widely copied on 19th- and 20th-century fakes
Strasbourg: Paul Hannong factory (c.1740-60) Marseilles: Veuve Perrin factory (c.1740-95) Moustiers: Olerys factory (1 738–c.1790) Quimper: Antoine de la Hal (est. 1782)
Quimper: Fougeray factory (est. 1872): copies of 18th-century originals

Tin-glazed earthenwares were made in Italy from at least the 13th century, and developed from very basic decorated pieces to wares of extremely high artistic quality. “Maiolica” is the term for Italian tin-glazed earthenwares, and is probably derived from the Tuscan name for the island of Majorca through which Hispano-Moresque wares from Spain were shipped to Italy from the 14th century.
BEFORE c.1400
The earliest period of maiolica production is known as the “Archaic” period and covers wares made until c.1400. The wares are basic in form: simple bowls, dishes, basins, or jugs. Decoration was executed mainly in manganese brown on a copper-green ground,
although yellow and blue were also used. The underlying tin-glazed surface is not always white, or even off-white, but a warm biscuity colour. Designs were mostly of stylized birds, animals, ribbonwork, hatching, geometric motifs, or occasionally the human figure.
1400-1500
From the early 14th century, maiolica emerged from
its humble origins to become a material appropriate for the most elevated patrons. Wares tend to be grouped according to the different types of decoration; the first was the “green” family (c.1425-50), a close descendant of the old Archaic tradition, in which designs were washed in green and outlined in manganese brown. The designs show a greater sensitivity and accomplishment than their predecessors but are still governed by the form of vessel or dish on which they appear. The “blue relief” wares (c.1430-60), which were mainly made in Tuscany, were painted in a very thick, rich, cobalt blue, a technique known as “impasto”, with detailing in manganese brown and copper green. Wares include albarelli (drug jars for use in pharmacies and spice stores) decorated with birds, animals, human figures, coats of arms, or oak leaves. Two-handled jars with oak-leaf decoration are called “oak-leaf” jars.
In the second half of the 15th century Italian potters produced ever more sophisticated work in both form and design. In contrast to the restricted early palette, tiles, albarelli, and dishes were painted in a broad range of colours, including blue, green, a translucent turquoise, yellow, and ochre. Designs include a bold Gothic scrolling leaf, the “Persian palmette” (resembling a pine-cone), the “peacock-feather eye”, “San Bernardino rays” (wavy radiating lines), tightly scrolled foliage with dotted flower-heads (probably inspired by Hispafio-Moresque ornament), ribbonwork, and geometric motifs.
The development of printing from the mid-15th century onward had
a major influence on the maiolica decorators, who used some of the primitive figural images – such as those on tarot cards – to decorate objects. With few exceptions, subjects before c.1500 are allegorical or symbolic, in contrast to the narrative style that developed during the following century. Most of the surviving early figural subjects have been found on wares attributed to Faenza or Florence, the foremost maiolica centres in the 15th century. Other important centres of production included Orvieto, Naples, and Deruta.
1500-1600
About 1480 the ruins of the Domus
Aurea (Golden House) of Emperor Nero was discovered in Rome; the walls in the grotto (underground
rooms) were painted with
ornament that included
scrolling foliage, fantastic
animals, and birds. Known
as “grotesques”, these
designs were translated
into engravings and used
extensively on Italian maiolica
for the next 200 years. Other designs were taken from a variety
of printed sources, including the
Metanzorpboses by the Classical
Roman poet Ovid, and the engravings
of Marcantonio Raimondi – most notable for reproducing work after the High Renaissance artist Raphael, who is considered the single most important influence on Italian istoriato (narrative) maiolica. Other artists whose work was incorporated into the painted designs include Albrecht Durer and Andrea Mantegna. Istoriato wares depict biblical, mythological, or historical themes, usually in a brilliant palette that employed the full range of high-fired colours; particularly predominant were a rich orange and a brilliant blue. The most important centres of production for istoriato wares were Urbino, Casteldurante, and Gubbio.
Other decorative styles include the “belle donne” dishes made particularly around Urbino from c.1520, which depicted the heads of beautiful women, and the a quartieri style – a patchwork of small, differently coloured panels each decorated with scrollwork or grotesques. In the 1520s the berrettino (grey-blue) ground was introduced in Faenza, and wares were typically decorated with grotesques and arabesques. The simplified compendiario style of decoration was introduced in Faenza during the second half of the 16th century, probably as a reaction to the increasingly busy istoriato ato wares. This simple, rather sketchy style, depicting flowers, figures, or coats of arms, employed a limited palette of blue, yellow, and ochre on a rich whit ground known as bianco di Faenza. In Montelupo in northern Italy, potters produced very high-quality ware, decorated with saints or single figures surrounded by a band of complex decoration. Wares included curious bulbous ewers with dragon-head spouts.
KEY FACTS
Before 1400
• BODY fairly crude brownish or buff colour
• GLAZE thin, an off-white colour
• PALETTE usually manganese brown and copper green
• FORMS simple bowls, dishes, basins, and jugs
• DECORATION known as “Archaic”; rather crude crosshatching used as a ground, geometric motifs, stylized birds and animals, occasionally figures
• IMPORTANT CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Florence,
Faenza, Deruta, Orvieto, and Naples
1400-1500
• BODY this improved as the century progressed
• GLAZE off-white, sometimes pinky
• PALETTE cobalt blue introduced c.1400; ochre and other colours such as turquoise
• DECORATION known as “severe”; groups include the “green” family, “blue relief”; decoration includes oak leaves, birds, animals, figures, coats of arms, Gothic scrolling leaves, “Persian palmettos”, “peacock-feather eyes”, and “San Bernardino rays”
• IMPORTANT CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Florence,
Faenza, Orvieto, Naples, and Deruta
1500-1600
• BODY increasingly refined
• GLAZE whiter, particularly bianco di Faenza
• PALETTE high-fired colours, including a deep sky blue and orange; a deep lapis blue in Faenza; metallic lustring in Gubbio and Deruta
• STYLES istoriato (narrative); a quartieri (quartered); compendiario (sketchy); belle donne (beautiful women)
• DECORATION grotesques; biblical or mythological scenes taken from printed sources or after famous painters; garlands, arabesques, trophies of arms, portrait medallions
• FORMS Ilbarclli, large dishes and bowls, storage jars
• IMPORTANT I CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Cafaggioio,
Casteldurante, Critelli, Deruta, Faenza, Gubbio, Montelupo, Pesaro, Rimini, Siena, Urbino, and Venice

Middle East Pottery

The countries and regions that embraced early Islam were ideally located to absorb the cultural, commercial, and technical cross-currents of the early medieval world. Chinese commodities were one of the major influences in Islamic lands – an area that stretched from India to the Atlantic Ocean. Trade with China was well established by the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906), since many Arabs were resident in Guangzhou (Canton), and in addition to spices, perfumes, and silks the Chinese sent ceramics to the Middle East.
EARLY WARES
From the 9th century, potters in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) were so inspired by Chinese wares that they strove to imitate them. The first types of ware made were buff or red earthenwares covered with a tin glaze. In an effort to simulate metals potters also developed the lustre technique, and during the next 300 years this method of decoration spread through Islamic countries, reaching Spain in the 13th or 14th century. Tin-glazed earthen-wares and lustre wares were two of the most important types of pottery bequeathed to Europe by the brilliant Islamic ceramic tradition. In eastern Persia (now Iran) the crisply contoured 10th- and 11th-century slipwares of Nishapur and Samarkand were subtly decorated with abstract leaf or geometric motifs and Kufic script.
PERSIAN WARES
Unique to the Islamic world is fritware, a glassy composition perhaps developed to copy imported Chinese porcelains produced during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). This grainy, white-bodied ware is often covered in a viscous, deep turquoise-blue glaze. Between c.1215 and 1334 plain and lustred wares were made in the town of Kashan, south of Tehran; the technique was probably introduced to Persia in the 12th century by Egyptian potters.
The sophisticated polychrome Mina’i (enamel)
wares of late-12th- or 13th-century Persia may often
seem crowded and confused, but they are nonetheless
outstanding examples of the Islamic decorator’s art.
Mina’i pottery was made in Rayy (now Rhages) near
Tehran, and is decorated with figures and painted in a wide range of colours. Many examples of early Mina’i ware are painted with large-scale figures in the manner of contemporary lustreware, but later the emphasis was
on small-scale, narrative subjects.
Later Persian wares, made during the
Safavid (1501-1732) and subsequent periods, include those from Meshed (eastern Persia), Kirman (western Persia), and Kubachi (northern Persia), most of which were painted in the style of late Ming and Transitional Chinese porcelains. The bodies, glazes, and decorations of these Persian wares Lire very similar and it is difficult to tell them apart.
IZNIK AND KOTAHYA
In the 16th century, extremely fine copies of blue-andwhite Chinese wares were made by the potters in Iznik (east of  Istanbul) and Kutahya in central Anatolia. The potters in these towns created superb, crisply painted
wares with swirling and scrolling foliage, painted either in blue or in a combination of turquoise, green, and, later, a thick red (Armenian bole). In addition to conventional decorative pottery vessels and dishes, Iznik and Damascus potters produced some of the finest tileworks for mosques and secular buildings. These latter wares were highly influential in late 19th-century Europe, as seen in, for example, the work of the English designer William De Morgan (1839-1917).
KEY FACTS
Early wares
•    BODY buff or red earthenware
•    GLAZE tin oxide
•    LUSTRE ruby, brown, yellow, black, red
•    TYPES tin-glazed wares; lustre wares
•    DECORATION fusion of Chinese and Islamic designs, usually abstract
Persian wares
•    BODY Mina’i: coarse; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: white frit paste
•    GLAZE Mina’i: creamy; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: thick and soft
•    DECORATION Mina’i: underglaze colours and overglaze enamels; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: resemble each other; black design outline may suggest a Meshed piece
Turkish wares
•    BODY Iznik: greyish buff, grainy, and absorbent; Kutahya: buff and thinly potted
•    GLAZE Iznik: translucent, but slightly bluish tone; Kutahya: irregular, gathers in bluish or greenish pools
•    STYLES Iznik: “Golden Horn” (c.1530) decorated with knotted pencilled scrolls; “Damascus” (c.1550-70) very sumptuous, with large-scale floral subjects and saw-edged leaf (saz); “Rhodian” (c.1555-1700) mainly floral; Chinese-style blue-and-white wares
•    PALETTE Iznik: wide range of colours dominated by turquoise and a scaling-wax red (Armenian bole)
•    DECORATION Kutahya: crude, floral, and figural
Marks
Islamic pottery is rarely marked, although individual potters’ marks do occasionally appear; corruptions of late Ming seal marks are used on Persian pottery