The Economic and Social World of Italian Renaissance Maiolica^*

Abstract

Italian maiolica has a long history extending back into the Middle Ages. That history recounts a slow evolutionary process, with its main themes being: first, the importation of tin-glazed pottery from the Islamic world in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which has survived primarily as architectural decoration (the bacini inserted into church façades); secondly, the development of the local production of ceramics with lead glazes and then improved tin glazes and with modest painted and incised decoration; thirdly, the diffusion of that production, presumably from Sicily and southern Italy, throughout the rest of the peninsula; and, finally, beginning in the later fourteenth century, the elevation of the quality of production to the level of a veritable art form. Our knowledge of this history has been amply expanded in the last few years by an extraordinary amount of very solid research conducted into the subject by medieval archaeologists and by ceramic scholars—many of the latter talented amateurs who work on their own local traditions in Italy; and this lively interest has had reverberations in both the museum world and the art market.

Cooking pots, tableware, and the changing sounds of sociability in Italy, 1300–1700

“…This was partly due to alterations in what was eaten and how, which stimulated increasing specialisation in the function of cooking equipment and tableware. It was also fuelled by responses to Italy's increasingly global trade in imported goods and raw materials, which led to technical advancements in the local manufacture of objects, exemplified by the production of tin-glazed earthenware and cristallo glass (Goldthwaite 1989;McCray 1999).…”

“…We can trace the influence of international trade most readily in relation to the production of ceramics and glass, and the shift away from wooden tableware. Richard Goldthwaite's important article on maiolica deftly outlines how the Italian production of ceramics was influenced by imported tin-glazed tableware and other artefacts from Islamic craftsmen active in Spain (these lustred objects themselves imitating ones produced in the Middle East, which were in turn imitating Chinese porcelain) (Goldthwaite 1989. See also Lightbown and Caiger- Smith [1980Smith [ ] 2007Thornton and Wilson 2009;Wilson 2016).…”

Consumir la <em>obra de terra</em>. Los orígenes de la cerámica valenciana por el lado de la demanda (1283-1349)

“…LOPEZ ELUM, 198551-52 (Valencia, 200151-52 (Valencia, -2002. COLL CONESA, 4/7 (Valencia, 1988-1989): 125-167. LERMA ALEGRÍA, 19 (Valencia, 1989): 411-427.…”

The Earliest Maiolica Ceramic Dishes in the Old Town in Vilnius

“…In that period, changes in customs and traditions took place which led to transformations in the exteriors and in the functions of dishes (Gaimster 1999). The process was related to changes in table culture, when the middle classes started copying the eating rituals of the elite (Goldthwaite 1989;Gaimster 1999). For that reason, maiolica, as a stylistically and qualitatively new type of ceramics, spread very quickly from Italy and the Netherlands all over Europe.…”

“…The first tin-glazed dishes came to the Apennine peninsula from Muslim countries around the 11thor 12th centuries. Not long after that, local craftsmen adopted the production technique: first they used lead glaze, and later they started covering dishes with tin glaze (Goldthwaite 1989).…”