There can be little doubt as to the antiquity of the pottery
manufacture. It probably had its origin in that of bricks, which at a
very early date men made for purposes of construction; but it is not
impossible that he had previously contrived to fabricate the commoner
articles of domestic economy, such as pans and dishes, of sun-dried
clay.
Bricks, as everybody knows, are fashioned out of a coarse clay, such as
we meet with in very numerous localities. After mixing up with water a
kind of paste out of these clayey earths, the moulder works up the paste
into the shape of bricks, and they are then exposed to the heat of the
kiln. Sometimes it was thought sufficient to dry these bricks in the
rays of a burning sun; but, so dried, their solidity is very
inconsiderable. Baked bricks owe their redness of colour to the oxide of
iron which they contain. They are either moulded with the hand or cast
in rectangular frames of wood, dusted with sand. To bake them, they are
piled up in huge stacks, in which intervals are left for storing and
kindling the fuel. They are also baked in kilns.
The commoner pottery wares are manufactured with the coarse impure
clays, which are allowed to rot in trenches for several years to render
them more plastic. Flower-pots, sugar-pans, vases, and other and more
graceful articles, are moulded on the potter's wheel.
Now, this potter's wheel is one of the most ancient instruments of human
industry, one of the earliest inventions by which man utilized and
economized his labour. It consists of a large disc of wood, to which a
rotatory motion is given by the workman's foot. A second and smaller
disc, on which is placed the paste for working, is fixed upon the upper
extremity of the vertical axis to which the larger and inferior disc is
attached. Seated on his bench, the workman places in the centre of the
disc a certain quantity of soft moist clay, and turning the wheel with
his foot, moulds the said paste with both hands, until it assumes the
desired shape. You can imagine no prettier spectacle than that of a
skilful potter causing the clay, under his nimble fingers, to assume the
most varied forms. It seems as if by miracle the vase was created
suddenly, and the rude clay sprang into a life and beauty of its own.
The Campanian potteries, improperly but commonly called the Etruscan,
and the ancient Greek wares, belong to the class of soft and lustrous
potteries which are no longer manufactured. The Etruscan vases are the
most remarkable specimens of the ancient potter's art; pure, simple, and
elegant in form, they cannot be surpassed by any efforts of the modern
potter. The paste of which they are made is very fine and homogeneous,
coated with a peculiar glassy lustre, which is thin but tenacious, red
or black, and formed of silica rendered fusible by an alkali. They were
baked at a low temperature. In this ware, which was in vogue between 500
and 320 B.C., the Aretine and Roman pottery originated. The former was
manufactured at Arezzo or Arretium.
The knowledge of glazes, which was acquired by the Egyptians and
Assyrians, seems to have been handed down to the Persians, Moors, and
Arabs. Fayences, and enamelled bricks and plaques, were commonly used
among them in the twelfth century, and among the Hindus in the
fourteenth. The celebrated glazed tiles, or _azulejos_, which contribute
so much to the beauty of the Alhambra, were introduced into Spain by the
Moors about 711 A.D. In Italy, it is supposed, they were made known as
early as the conquest of Majorca by the Pisans, in 1115 A.D. But
Brongniart places their introduction three centuries later, or in 1415,
and says this peculiar kind of ware was called _Majolica_, from Majorica
or Majorca. This, however, seems to have been the Italian enamelled
fayence, which was used for subjects in relief by the celebrated
Florentine sculptor, Luca della Robbia.
Robbia had been bred to the trade of a goldsmith--in those days a trade
of great distinction and opulence--but his artistic tastes could not be
controlled, and he abandoned it to become a sculptor. A man of a
singularly enthusiastic and ardent nature, he applied himself arduously
to his new work. He worked all day with his chisel, and sat up, even
through the night, to study. "Often," says Vasari, "when his feet were
frozen with cold in the night time, he kept them in a basket of shavings
to warm them, that he might not be compelled to discontinue his
drawings." Such devotion could hardly fail to secure success. Luca was
recognised as one of the first sculptors of the day, and executed a
number of great works in bronze and marble. On the conclusion of some
important commissions, he was struck with the disproportion between the
payment he received and the time and labour he had expended; and,
abandoning marble and bronze, resolved to work in clay. Before he could
do that, however, it was necessary to discover some means of rendering
durable the works which he executed in that material. Applying himself
to the task with characteristic zeal and perseverance, he at length
succeeded in discovering a mode of protecting such productions from the
injuries of time, by means of a glaze or enamel, which conferred not
only an almost eternal durability, but additional beauty on his works in
terra cotta. At first this enamel was of a pure white, but he afterwards
added the further invention of colouring it. The fame of these
productions spread over Europe, and Luca found abundant and profitable
employment during the rest of his days, the work being carried on, after
his death, by brothers and descendants.