What's Majolica? What's this all about? |
When one encounters a ceramic object which is decorated with a large amount of detail and high key color, chances are majolica was the technique employed by the artist to acheive that surface decoration. A general definition of the term majolica refers to a technique as well as a description of a particular type of ceramics. The technique of majolica involves painting ceramic coloring oxides and stains, in a watery state, on the surface of a very opaque white raw glaze, then oxidation firing to the maturation temperature of that glaze. The opaque white is traditionally a lowfire (cone 06-04) glaze, opacified with tin oxide. Ceramicists also call this technique "on-glazing." The type of ceramic objects which have been created using the majolica technique are found world wide and are called a variety of names, depending on their country of origin: France and Germany call majolica ware "faince," in Holland it's "delft," in Spain, "malica," and in Italy, "maliche." Most English speaking countries call it majolica or maiolica. Some art historians, when referring to "maiolica" (note the difference in spelling) specifically mean objects which are tin-glazed earthenware made up to the 17th century and created in the Italian Renaissance style. Regardless of its name, majolica ware continues to be produced around the world. Because of the current popularity and market value of contemorary Italian majolica, it is often copied and mass produced in countries other than Italy. (Buyer, beware. If it's cheap, it was probably made outside of Italy, even though it may be signed with "Deruta" or some other significant Italian ceramics city.) The focus of this document will be on Italian majolica, historical and contemparary, and on the studio techniques (the how-to's) of making it, using contemporary methods and materials. The objective is not to present the budding ceramic artist with a formula to copy Italian styles, but to provide a roadmap for a wonderfully expressive way to approach the surface of clay in a painterly fashion. And - how about a little art history while we're at it?! |
So, let's go...... |