3 Attributed to Jacopo della Pergola. Illuminated initial "M" from a
manuscript (detail), mid-fifteenth century. London, Victoria and Albert
Museum. The woman carting produce from her garden in a basket
on her head also holds a maiolica jar in her right hand. The jar was
probably used in the cultivation or harvest of the crop or to carry a
beverage to the harvesters.
4 Bowl. Iran, thirteenth century. Lead-glazed earthenware. London,
Victoria and Albert Museum. This bowl illustrates the runny nature
of fired lead glazes that have not been stabilized by the addition of
tin oxide.
By the end of the fifteenth century the number of
Hispano-Moresque ceramics in Italy fell as Italian pot
ters became adept in the tin-glaze medium. Italian tastes
had also changed, and quintessentially Renaissance em
bellishments such as narrative elements supplanted the
medieval and Islamic-inspired motifs still found on
Spanish wares from the same period. In addition, by the
fifteenth century Chinese porcelain—with its thin walls
and elegant blue and white decoration—had begun to
reach Italy, stirring collectors' desire and influencing lo
cal earthenware production.
While retaining some of the original glazing tech
niques, Italian Renaissance maiolica featured distinc
tively Italian colors and ornamentation, as many of the
Getty Museum's works illustrate. Moreover, maiolica
ware of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries served a
range of purposes that crossed social strata: from practi
cal common-ware vessels of the everyday household
(fig. 3) to elaborate pottery of rarefied subject matter
pointing up the taste and erudition of its patrician own
ers. Initially, the shape and glaze of these wares followed
their function as receptacles; later on, however, the
shape and surface decoration became aesthetic concerns,
taking on significance in and of themselves.
Italian maiolica of the Renaissance displays ex
ceptionally brilliant and colorful surface decoration.
This decoration was made possible by advances in glaz
ing and firing techniques, developments in pictorial rep
resentation, and active patronage that sought out and
rewarded quality and innovation. Maiolica decoration
was achieved by covering already fired earthenware with
a primary bianco (white) glaze. The bianco glaze was
made up of a glassy lead oxide opacified by the addition
of tin oxide (ashes), along with a silicate of potash made
from wine lees mixed with sand. The painted ornament
was then applied to the raw glaze in the form of metallic
oxides. Firing again in the kiln fused the painted pig
ments to this white ground. The innovation of adding tin
not only enabled the potters to produce an opaque white
ground but also made the glazes more stable when fired;
previously, the pigments had tended to run or blur (fig. 4).
Maiolica painters often reserved the tin glazes—whichIntroduction 3