Maiolica (also spelled majolica) is, by definition, a low-fired ware of a decorative nature with that decoration applied over a white ground, that ground being almost always a glaze specified with tin oxide, a colorant which when added to a glaze will, if correctly formulated enable it to cover a buff or even terra-cotta clay. The fact that it is fugitive at high temperatures was not a problem, as only the Chinese wares of the time were achieved at anything much over 1,000 or 1,100 degrees centigrade, these being the upper limits to which maiolica ware was fired.
Islamic and Chinese Interactions
It was indeed interaction between the Islamic world and China around 800 to 900 AD that led to the development of maiolica. There is a record in a book written in the year 1059 that says.... "All Ibn Isa, governor of Khurasan, sent as a present to the Caliph Harun at Rashid, twenty pieces of Chinese imperial porcelain, the like of which had never been seen before at the Caliph's court, in addition to two thousand other pieces of porcelain...." This was presumably porcelain of the T'ang period. What was admirable at the time about this porcelain, apart from any other aspects, was its whiteness, and this was soon to be imitated albeit by very different means to those employed in its original manufacture.
By Picol Passo's time maiolica had been practiced in Italy for more than a hundred years, and had developed from an unpretentious craft to a level of sophistication and virtuosity that it was ranked alongside skills such as the making of fine jewellery. I must note at this point that tin-glazed ware had existed in Italy back to at least the llth century in Orvetio and other places, but had never developed at those sites into what is considered true maiolica.
Development of Maiolica
The development of this tradition depended above-all on the exploration of drawing, color and subject matter: it was essentially painters' pottery. Although the technical difficulties should not be under-estimated, it was, for example, possible to obtain with some reliability blues, ochres, green, soft-reds, black, white and the indispensable antimony-yellow, all existing on a solid white ground beneath a covering layer of clear glaze. This glaze gave depth to the surface as well as providing a functional durability, although the best of maiolica was, because of its value, primarily decorative rather than functional in its use, if not its form.
