Italian Ceramics: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection

6 Vannoccio Biringuccio. Illustration from chapter 14, book 9, of De l

pirotechnia (Venice, 1540). Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute,

Special Collections. Two potters use two different types of potter's

wheels next to a kiln in their workshop.

a

materials to ensure that the decoration desired became

the decoration achieved, since raw pigments appear in

shades of gray and beige when applied and only develop

their color with firing. Luckily, painted maiolica decora­

tion has the great advantage of never dulling or darken­

ing with age, unlike fresco or oil painting of the same

period. Although limited by available materials and tech­

niques, maiolica pigments thus provide some of the few

examples of colors used in the Renaissance that have re­

mained unchanged by time or use.

Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century experts in such

subjects as pyrotechny, metallurgy, and mineralogy—

such as Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480-ca. 1539) (fig. 6)

and Georgius Agricola (ne Bauer, 1494-155 5 )^8 —

helped advance the techniques of maiolica production.

Others explained how the "divine" properties of fire

made possible the potters' gift of life (permanence) to

earth (clay), much as the gods of the creation myths of

the Mediterranean world gave life to man. References to

the mystical and divine nature of the ceramic craft

are found in the most exhaustive and didactic sixteenth-

century manual on ceramic production. Cavaliere

Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante wrote Li tie

7 Cipriano Piccolpasso. Folio 3 from Li tie libri dell'arte del vasaio

(1557). London, Victoria and Albert Museum. Potters collecting clay

from a riverbed.

libri delVaite del vasaio at the suggestion of Cardinal

Francois de Tournon when the cardinal was visiting

Castel Durante as a guest of the duke of Urbino.

Piccolpasso instructed novice potters to prepare and

light the kiln "al far della luna ... raccordandosi far sem-

pre tutte le cose col nome di Jesu Cristo" (by the light of

the moon... remembering to do all things in the name

of Jesus Christ).^9

Thanks to Piccolpasso, we are able to reconstruct

contemporary methods of gathering (fig. 7) and forming

clay, making and applying glazes, and firing ceramic

pieces. His manual recorded for the first time "tutti gli

segreti de Parte del vasaio... quello che gia tant'anni e

stato ascosto" (all of the secrets of the potter's art...

which have been kept hidden for many years).^10 Besides

being hidden (ascosto), these secrets—the keys to suc­

cess and fame—were jealously guarded as well. This

explains why, despite the mobility of ceramists and

their wares, one can often distinguish the methods, ce­

ramic shapes, and decorative styles of different centers of

production.

Some types of maiolica decoration became the spe­

cialties of the centers in which they were developed.

Introduction 5