We have given in the last chapter a very brief abstract or epitome of
the interesting manuscript of Piccolpasso, which offers us a perfect
idea of the manner and comparatively simple appliances under which the
beautiful examples of the potter’s art were produced in Italy during the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The _rationale_ of these processes is
clear enough and requires no comment; but we may perhaps remark that
whereas the fixing of the glaze and colours in the ordinary process is
merely produced by a degree of heat sufficient to liquefy and blend
them, in the case of the metallic reflection a different effect is
requisite, and different means adopted. The pigments consist partly of
metallic salts, which being painted on the wares, after exposure to a
simple heat for some time, have then directed upon their glowing surface
the heated smoke given off by the fagots of broom; this smoke being in
fact carbon in a finely divided state has great power, at a high
temperature, of reducing metals from their salts; painted on the wares
these are thereby decomposed, leaving a thin coat of mixed metal,
varying in colour and iridescence from admixture with the glaze and
other causes, and producing the beautiful effects so well known.
The various names by which the Italian pottery of the renaissance has
been known have in some instances arisen from, as they have also led to,
error. “Faenza ware,” doubtless, had its origin from the town of that
name, although its French equivalent “faïence” may either be a
translation of the Italian, or may be derived from a town in Provence,
called “Faiance” or “Fayence,” a few miles from Cannes and Fréjus,
where potteries are stated to have existed from an early period. “Urbino
ware” and “Umbrian ware” explain themselves as connected with those
important sites of the manufacture, while the name of “Raffaelle ware”
was doubtless derived from the subjects after his designs, with which so
many pieces were painted, and from the grotesques after his manner. A
very beautiful drawing of his school, and which has been ascribed to
Raffaelle’s own pencil, is in the royal collection at Windsor. It is for
the border of a plate, and consists of a continuous circular group of
amorini, dancing in the most graceful attitudes.
Scripture subjects are perhaps more general upon the pieces of early
date, particularly those of Faenza, on which designs from Albert Dürer,
Martin Schön, and other German painters are found, executed with the
greatest care; such subjects were also used at Caffaggiolo. The spirit
of the renaissance awakening a passion for the antique declared itself
in the numerous representations from Greek and Roman history and
mythology, scenes from Homer, the metamorphoses of Ovid, and the like,
which formed the main stock subjects for the wares of the Umbrian
fabriques, excepting always the sacred histories delineated so admirably
by Orazio Fontana and others, from the designs of Raffaelle and his
scholars. It was among the artists of this duchy that the habit of
writing the subject on the back of the piece chiefly prevailed, with
specimens of curious spelling and strange latinity. Transmutation of
subject is not rare, as the burning of the “Borgo” for the siege of
Troy, and others. The forms appear to have varied considerably at
different localities of the craft, partaking of a classic origin, mixed
with some orientalism in the earlier and gothic forms in the more
northern pieces; but upon all the exuberance of fancy and rich
ornamentation characteristic of the Italian “cinque-cento” is made
evident, as it is upon the furniture, the bronzes, and the jewellery of
that artistic period.
[Illustration]
There can be little doubt that the maiolica and finer painted wares were
looked upon at the time they were produced as objects of ornament or as
services “de luxe.” The more ordinary wares or _dozzinale_ were
doubtless used for general domestic purposes in the houses of the higher
classes, but the finer pieces decorated by better artists were highly
prized. Thus we find that services were only made for royal or princely
personages, frequently as presents. Some of the choicest specimens in
our cabinets were single gift pieces; small plates and _scodelle_ which
it was then the fashion for gallants to present, filled with preserves
or _confetti_ to ladies. Many of these are of the form known as
_tondino_, small, with a wide flat brim and sunk centre; in this the
central medallion is generally occupied by a figure of Cupid, hearts
tied by ribbon, or pierced by arrows; or by joined hands and similar
amatory devices, or with a shield of arms and initial letters. The
borders are painted with grotesques and trophies, among which sonnets
and music sometimes occur, and medallions with love emblems, portraits,
and armorial bearings. These _amatorii_ pieces also occur as large
plates and deep saucers, the surface of each entirely covered with a
portrait of the beloved (as in the engraving p. 63) accompanied by a
ribbon or banderole, on which her name or a motto is inscribed, often
with the complimentary accompaniment of “bella,” “diva,” “paragon di
tutti,” &c. Jugs, vases, and other shaped pieces were also decorated in
a similar style.
We find in maiolica all objects for table use: inkstands, ornamental
vases, and quaint surprises; salt-cellars of curious forms; jugs of
different size and model; many kinds of drug pots and flasks; pilgrims’
bottles, vasques, and cisterns; candelabra and candlesticks, rilievos
and figures in the round; in short, every object capable of being
produced in varied fancy by the potter’s art: even beads for necklaces,
some of which are in the writer’s possession, decorated with knot work
and concentric patterns and inscribed severally ANDREA · BELLA =
MARGARITA · BELA = MEMENTO · MEI ·; these last, the only examples known,
are finished with considerable care and are probably of the earlier
years of the sixteenth century.
There is little doubt that many of the pieces ostensibly for table use
were only intended and applied for decorative purposes (like the vase in
the woodcut p. 131), to enrich the shelves of the “credenza,”
“dressoir,” or high-backed sideboard, intermingled with gold and silver
plate, Venetian glass, &c. Such pieces were known as “piatti di pompa”
or show plates, and among them are some of the most important and
beautiful of the larger dishes and bacili, as well as the more elaborate
and elegant of the shaped pieces.