The painter of maiolica ware, apart from relying on set designs and themes with the addition of material such as armorial crests, flags and lettering also had a rich source of imagery at hand when tackling Istoriato work that depicted figurative and narrative subjects. This was, after all, Renaissance Italy, and many of the painters of maiolic relied on borrowing from the images of the day, often from engravings or woodcuts. This can be seen in this Urbino plate, c. 1535-40, where the unknown painter has copied from the engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi, which itself is copied from a composition by Raphael. The subject is the Plague of Phrygia. Or another example, this time by the 'Castel Durante painter', again after a work of Raimondi's, the 'seated man holding a flute' which in the ceramic has become "Orpheus charming the beasts."
The Maiolica Movement
The period we have been examining here, the early to mid 16th century, saw Italian maiolica ware traded and sold in most of the European centres of the day, and, not unnaturally, where their work found a good reception the potters soon followed. From Italy the new movement returned revitalized to Spain. It also spread to Pranoa, to Flanders and on to Holland and England, and finally through Switzerland to Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Russia. In time all these places developed recognizable individual styles, and during the 17th century technology was to change to allow the examples of the east, specifically Chinese Ming period ware to be emulated with great accuracy, and for the ware to become very much finer and more precise in nature.
But at a certain point, although this ware still carries the name maiolica, it seems to me that in its very refinement it loses some of the qualities of spontaneity and humanity that mark it as one of the great periods in ceramics.
Thanks to Damon Moon and Steven Goldate for this article.
