Majolica

In different periods of time and in different countries the word majolica has been used for two distinct types of pottery.

See also: Maiolica
Coloured glazes majolica. Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, UK
English tin-glazed majolica. First shown at the 1851 Exhibition by Minton & Co., Exhibit Number 74. Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

Firstly, from mid-15th century onwards there was maiolica, a type of pottery reaching Italy from Spain, Majorca[1] and beyond. This was made by a tin-glaze process (dip, dry, paint, fire), resulting in an opaque white glazed surface decorated with brush-painting in metal oxide enamel colour(s).

During the 17th century, the English added the letter j to their alphabet[2]. Maiolica was commonly anglicized to majolica thereafter.

Secondly, there is the Victorian mid to late 19th century type of pottery also known as majolica made by a more simple process (paint, fire) whereby coloured lead glazes were applied direct to an unfired clay mould, typically relief-moulded, resulting in brightly coloured, hard-wearing, inexpensive wares both useful and decorative, typically in naturalistic style. This type of majolica was introduced to the public at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, later widely copied and mass-produced. Minton & Co., who developed the coloured lead glazes product, also developed and exhibited at the 1851 Exhibition a tin-glazed product in imitation of Italian maiolica which they called also majolica.

Caution needed with meanings

The Notes in this article append tin-glazed to the word meaning "opaque white tin-glaze, painted in enamels", and coloured glazes to the word meaning "coloured lead glazes, applied direct to the biscuit".

We understand by majolica

Leon Arnoux, the artistic and technical director of Mintons, wrote in 1852 "We understand by majolica a pottery formed of a calcareous clay gently fired, and covered with an opaque enamel composed of sand, lead, and tin..."[3].

  • Leon Arnoux, 1853, describing Minton's tin-glazed product.

He was describing the Minton & Co. tin-glazed product made in imitation of Italian maiolica both in process and in styles. Remember, tin-glaze is simply plain lead glaze with a little tin oxide added. His description is often referenced[4], in error, as a definition of Minton's other new product, the much copied and later mass-produced ceramic sensation of the Victorian era, Minton's coloured lead glazes 'Palissy ware'. The 16th century French pottery of Bernard Palissy was well known and much admired[5][6]. Mintons adopted the name 'Palissy ware' for their new coloured glazes product, but this soon became known also as majolica[7]. Minton & Co. appear to have done little to promote the clear distinction between their tin-glazed and coloured glazes products.

Minton Archive first design for majolica

Thomas Kirkby's design G144 in the Minton Archive[8] is inscribed "This is the First Design for Majolica ...". The design is Italian Renaissance in style. Close-up images illustrate a design suited for fine brushwork on flat surfaces. The design is for Minton's rare tin-glaze Majolica imitation of Italian tin-glaze maiolica. Minton's designs for Palissy ware, also known as majolica, were suited for 'thick' painting of coloured lead glazes onto surfaces moulded in relief to make best use of the intaglio effect[9].

Coloured glazes earthenware
Main article: Victorian majolica

Earthenware coated with coloured lead glazes[10] applied directly to an unglazed body has from mid-19th century onwards been called majolica,[11] e.g.: "20th century majolica", "Mexican majolica", Sarreguemines majolica, Palissy majolica, majolica glazed Parian ware. The science involved in the development of multiple temperature compatible coloured lead glazes is complex, but the process itself is simple (paint.[12]fire.) This majolica is the vibrantly coloured, frequently naturalistic style of earthenware, developed and named "Palissy ware" by Minton & Co. and introduced to the public at the 1851 Great Exhibition that was mass-produced throughout Europe and America and is widely available.[13] In English this majolica is never spelt with an i in place of the j. It is however pronounced both with a hard j as in major and with a soft j as in maiolica. In some other languages i is indeed used for both coloured glazes earthenware and for tin-glazed earthenware: France maiolique, and Italy maiolica.

Examples of coloured glazes majolica (paint, fire.)

Clay mould 'biscuit' painted with thick coloured lead glazes, simultaneously, then fired. Process requires just two stages and low skill in painting. When fired in the oven, at a controlled temperature, every colour fuses to the clay body, usually without running into each other. A triumph in ceramic technology by Leon Arnoux,[14] Art Director, that transformed the fortunes of Mintons.

  • Coloured lead glazes majolica, flowers moulded in high relief. Shape first shown at the 1851 Exhibition by Minton & Co., Exhibit Number 60.
  • Coloured lead glazes majolica jardiniere, moulded in high relief, Mintons, second half 19th century.
  • Coloured lead glazes Palissy majólica, mottled glazes, applied fruits, late 19th century, Elias, Portugal
  • Sarreguemines Majolica Majolique plate, moulded in relief, late 19th century, France. Good example of intaglio effect.[15]
  • Sarreguemines Majolique plate, reverse. Impressed 'MAJOLICA' for English-speaking export markets.
  • Late 20th century Reproduction Majolica, running glazes, wrong colours, fake makers marks.

Tin-glazed earthenware
Main article: Maiolica

Tin-glazed earthenware having an opaque white glaze with painted overglaze decoration of metal oxide enamel colour(s) is maiolica. It had reached Italy by mid-15th century.[16] It is frequently prone to flaking and somewhat delicate.[17] The word is also spelt with a j majolica. In contemporary England the use of maiolica spelt with an i tends to be restricted to Renaissance Italian maiolica. In the US majolica spelt with a j is used for both coloured glazes majolica and tin-glazed. In France and other countries tin-glazed maiolica developed also as faience,[18] and in UK and Netherlands as delftware. In France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Portugal, tin-glazed wares are called maiolique, majolika, maiolica, mayólica, talavera, and majólica respectively.

Examples of tin-glazed maiolica (dip, dry, paint, fire.)

Clay mould dipped (or coated) in tin glaze, then set aside to dry, then brush-painted on the unfired glaze, then fired. Process requires four separate stages and high skill in painting.

  • Hispano-Moresque maiolica, c. 1450, tin-glazed with lustre decoration, Moorish Spain.
  • "Earthenware, tin-glaze (Majolica), early 15th century, Italy." Metropolitan Museum NY.
  • Tin-glazed Italian Renaissance maiolica, 1550–1570.
  • Tin-glazed majolique armoriée, France, late 16th century. Italian Renaissance Grotesque style.
  • Tin-glazed Spanish maiolica, late 17th century.
  • Tin-glazed 17th century Talavera, also called majolica, Mexico.
  • Tin-glazed London Delftware charger, mid-17th century, in imitation of mid-16th century Palissy coloured glazes charger 'La Fecundite'.
  • Rare tin-glazed Minton 'majolica' Victoria plate, brush-painted decoration on flat surface in Renaissance style, mid-19th century (1853).
  • Rare tin-glazed Minton 'majolica' Victoria plate, reverse, opaque white tin-glaze.
  • Rare tin-glazed Minton Majolica, mid-19th century (1870), in imitation of Italian Renaissance istoriato style maiolica.
  • Tin-glazed faience, Luneville, France, late 19th century. Renaissance style.
  • Tin-glazed faience, fine painted colours on opaque white tin glaze, France.
  • Tin-glazed 20th century maiolica, Italy.

Majolica types, detail

Examples showing detail of coloured glazes majolica (Paint, fire) v. Tin-glazed majolica (Dip, dry, paint, fire).

  • Coloured glazes (paint, fire) majolica, 'thick painted' on buff body (exposed by glaze miss), relief surfaces showing intaglio effect.
  • Left, Coloured glazes majolica, 'thick' painting on moulding in relief produces intaglio effect on green leaf. Right, tin-glazed majolica/maiolica, fine brush painting on flat surface, no intaglio effect.
  • Minton coloured glazes (paint, fire) majolica, 'thick' painted coloured lead glazes on relief moulded surfaces making maximum use of intaglio effect. Naturalistic style.
  • Minton coloured glazes (paint, fire) majolica cockerel/rooster base detail, 1875 cypher, unglazed base rim (not dipped), 'thick' painted coloured glaze, not fine brush-work.
  • Minton tin-glazed (dip, dry, paint, fire) majolica, opaque white tin-glaze on flat surfaces, fine brush-painted decoration. Italian Renaissance style.
  • Minton tin-glazed (dip, dry, paint, fire) majolica, opaque white tin-glaze on flat surfaces, brush-painted 'MINTON', 1860 date cypher. Italian Renaissance style.
  • Tin-glazed Minton majolica, 1864, coated, brush-painted on flat surfaces, artist Rochfort. Possibly a combination of coloured glazes and tin-glaze decorated in enamels.
  • Tin-glazed Minton majolica, date cypher 1864, coated not dipped, opaque white glaze, brush-painted Rochford signature (artist).

See also

In contemporary fiction
  • The Majolica Murders by Deborah Morgan

Notes
  1. Arthur Beckwith, 1877, Majolica and Fayence, Italian, Sicilian, Majorcan, Hispano-Moresque and Persian, D. Appleton and Company, New York, Meaning of Majolica, p. 23 "…The introduction of a stanniferious enamel [tin-glaze] to Italy occurred previous to its use by Luca della Robbia […]. Previous to that we find it used in Spain and Majorca…"
  2. Charles Butler, English Grammer, 1633, London, "The first English language book to make a clear distinction between i and j was published in 1633."
  3. Arnoux, Leon, 1853, Lecture 23 Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, David Bogue, 86 Fleet Street, London. p. 396
    • Merriam-Webster Online
    • Oxford Dictonaries online
  5. Art Journal, 1850, Catalogue to Mediaeval Exhibition "…sections are thus enumerated in the catalogue:- … 4. Italian Majolica [tin-glazed Italian maiolica]; … 7. Palissy Ware [16th century]; …"
  6. Christie, Manson & Woods Catalogue, June 16, 1884, Sale of Fontaine Collection of Majolica [tin-glazed Italian], Henri II, Palissy Ware [16th century] ...
  7. Paul Atterbury and Maureen Batkin, 1997, 'Dictionary of Minton', Antique Collectors' Club. "Minton did not use the word maiolica themselves, relying instead on the Victorian version, majolica, which they used to mean wares of Renaissance inspiration, featuring hand painting on an opaque white glaze. These were therefore quite distinct from the coloured glaze decorated wares which we now call majolica, but which Minton referred to as Palissy wares."
  8. http://www.themintonarchive.org.uk/magnificent-majolica-the-first/
  9. Light and dark created by glaze pooling in the lower areas of a relief moulding.
  10. Batkin, Maureen (1982). "Majolica". Wedgwood Ceramics 1846–1959. England: Richard Dennis. ISBN 0 903685 11 6. ...richly coloured earthenware… Leon Arnoux … developed a series of brightly coloured, temperature-compatible glazes…
  11. "Messrs. Minton and Co.'s Contributions". The Illustrated London News. November 10, 1855. p. 561. The collection of Palissy [coloured lead glazes] and Majolica [tin-glazed] ware, however, is that which appears to have created the greatest sensation among Parisian connoisseurs. The reader will remember that the main difference in these wares is that whereas the Palissy ware is coloured by a transparent glaze [coloured lead glazes] Majolica ware contains the colour (opaque) in the material [tin-glazed]... One sample of Palissy ware [coloured lead glazes] being a little tea-service spread upon a leaf, the legs of the teapot being snails...
  12. W.B.Honey, Keeper of the Department of Ceramics, Victoria and Albert Museum, The Art of the Potter, 1944, p. 9 "PAINTING is done on the[…] surface of unglazed pottery [e.g. coloured lead glazes on biscuit of lead-glaze majolica], or on an unfired tin-glaze [e.g. oxide enamels on unfired tin-glaze of tin-glaze maiolica/majolica], or on the glassy surface of a fired glaze."
  13. Victoria and Albert Museum (2016). "Minton majolica chestnut dish". VAM. London. Although Arnoux did produce tin-glazed, painted wares in the style of Italian ceramics, what is now known as majolica was a range of brightly coloured low-temperature glazes launched in 1849 as 'Palissy Ware'. Only later did these become known as majolica ware. By the 1880s this name was commonly applied to all such ware, whether made by Minton or not. This colourful, popular ware is one of the most typical types of Victorian ceramics.
  14. Joseph Francois Leon Arnoux (1816–1902)
  15. Light and dark created by glaze pooling in the lower areas of a relief moulding.
  16. Fortnum, Charles Drury E. (1876). "MAIOLICA". New York: University of Michigan. p. 22. ...we have no record or dated example of Italian pottery, coated with the stanniferous enamel [tin-glazed], previous to the first important production by Luca della Robbia in 1438…
  17. Falke, Jacob (1869). "The Workshop, Vol II, No. 10, p. 148". London. …however highly majolica [tin-glazed] may be esteemed, it will always remain an article of luxury and ornament only…
  18. Arnoux, Leon. "Reports on the Paris Universal Exhibition, 1867". If it is made of a common clay, but coated with an opaque enamel, we get the Italian, the Delph, or the old French faience, according to the degree of opacity in the enamel.

References
  • Atterbury, Paul, and Batkin, Maureen, Dictionary of Minton, Antique Collectors' Club, 1990.
  • Arnoux, Leon, British Manufacturing Industries, Gutenberg, 1877.
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