Catalan Imitations of the Ligurian Taches Noires Ware in Barcelona (18th–19th Century): An Example of Technical Knowledge Transfer

Abstract

The ware called Taches Noires was developed in Albisola (Liguria, NW Italy) during the 18th century. In just a few years, it spread all over the Mediterranean (Italy, France, Spain, Tunisia, and Greece) and also in the New World (Canada, the Caribbean Islands, and Mexico). The success of the Taches Noires ware was so massive that it was soon copied by Spanish and French workshops. A collection of Catalan imitations and Ligurian imports found in Barcelona were analysed and compared to previously existing data from Barcelona productions, as well as reference samples from Albisola. The study proved the presence of both local imitations and original Albisola imports. The analysis showed a homogeneous product of high technical quality for the Albisola pottery. On the contrary, the local imitations presented a greater diversification in the choice and manipulation of the raw materials, probably related to the existence of different workshops engaged in the manufacturing of these products. Nevertheless, for one of the local groups, ceramists adopted a glaze recipe similar to the one used in Albisola, clearly indicating a direct transfer of knowledge, and possibly of potters, from Albisola to Barcelona.

Breaking Preconceptions: Thin Section Petrography For Ceramic Glaze Microstructures

“…This mineral also indicates a firing temperature below 925 • C, while the Mn content is consistent with the original glaze recipe. Kentrolite was found near the glaze-body interface, suggesting an application of the pigment directly on the ceramic body in agreement with the original recipe [38].…”

“…However, due to the fact that glass is opaque to electrons, SEM might not be the most suitable technique to investigate crystals embedded in glazes. Our pioneering studies focusing on the use of thin section samples have showed this limitation in contrast with OM that produced images much more useful to identify and interpret the processes that formed the crystallites [34][35][36][37][38]. Indeed, a very common situation in glaze microstructures is that the crystallites (either relics or neo-formed) can be found under the polished glaze surfaces.…”

“…In these decorations there are crystallites constantly recurring in Medieval and Post-Medieval potteries and tiles. Kentrolite, Pb 2 Mn 2 Si 2 O 9 , melanotekite Pb 2 Fe 2 Si 2 O 9 , braunite, MnMn 6 SiO 12 , bustamite, (Ca,Mn) 2 Si 2 O 6 and hematite, Fe 2 O 3 , are phases often found in brown decorations as well as lead-calcium arsenates in blue ones [35,37,38,[40][41][42]45,47,[52][53][54][55][56][57]. We have recently characterized these minerals in glazes using the described approach [34,35,37,38,48], and from now on they could be identified in other glazes using almost exclusively the affordable OM.…”

“…Pioneering developments of the application of tts-µXRD on petrographic thin sections were done at the microdiffraction-high-pressure station of the MSPD beamline at the ALBA Synchrotron Facility in Barcelona, Spain [35][36][37][38]118,119]. These have represented a healthy change for microdiffraction studies on glazed ceramics, leading to improvements in terms of the accuracy of the analysis, data gathering, and time for data elaboration.…”

“…It became a global pottery in a few years, spreading all over the Mediterranean (Italy, France, Spain, Tunisia, and Greece) and also in the New World (Canada, the Caribbean Islands, and Mexico). The success of the Taches Noires ware was so massive that it was soon copied by different Spanish and French workshops [35,38,[121][122][123].…”