Especially in Tuscany one finds zaffeia a rilievo, or relief
lue decoration (see nos. 4-5,7-9). The term zaffeia may
ell relate to the Italian term zaffiro for " sapphire/^7 a
emstone prized for its brilliant blue color. Zaffeia deco
ation was rendered in cobalt oxide, a costly material
hat, like tin, required importation, in this case from
orthern Africa or the eastern Mediterranean. Maiolica
ainters used this cobalt pigment that was high in lead,
utlined with manganese brown, to paint motifs resem
ling oak leaves and berries,^11 sometimes framing figural
ubjects and heraldic devices. Because of the lower melt
ng point of lead, the decoration swelled with firing,
aking it stand out in relief from the jar (see no. 4).^12
The East influenced alia poicellana, or porcelain
ike decoration, through Persian designs, Turkish Iznik
ottery, and especially Chinese porcelain of the Ming dy
asty (1368-1644), which arrived in Italy in the fifteenth
entury. This decoration imitated porcelain, with painted
lue foliage and floral sprays on a white ground (see
o. 19). Although popular as well in Tuscany, Emilia-
omagna, and the Marches, alia poicellana embellish
ent became a specialty of Venetian workshops, proba
ly because of the city's location on the Adriatic Sea, a
trategic position for trade with the East.
Like alia poicellana motifs, beiettino glazes may
ave originated in Venice as a result of Middle and Far
astern influences. Ceramists achieved beiettino's char
cteristic lavender-gray color by mixing tin-white glaze
ith a small amount of cobalt. This delicate blue served
s a ground on which they painted designs (primarily
lowers, foliage, and grotesques)^13 in intense blue high
ighted with threadlike bands of white (see nos. 24, 32-
3). A similar beiettino blue ground was also popular in
aenza and, later, in Liguria.
Around the beginning of the sixteenth century,
ainted figural and abstract decorations were equally
opular on maiolica pieces produced in the rival centers
f Deruta, Faenza, Florence, Gubbio, and Montelupo.
aenza—from which the term faience derived—was one
f the most productive and well organized of these cen
ers and was, as a result, one of the most influential.
ther centers were likewise developing sophisticated
ommercial operations. As early as 1490, the Florentineb w g r t n p o b s i m l p n c b n R m b s h E a w a f l 3 F p p o F o t O c
Francesco di Antonio Antinori struck a contract with
twenty-three potters from neighboring Montelupo
whereby Antinori would buy the entire production of
the contracted workshops for the subsequent three
years. What he intended to do with this stock is not
known, although one scholar surmises that Antinori
might have seen the situation as an opportunity to make
money by monopolizing Montelupo production and sell
ing it in Florence, where the maiolica industry had begun
to decline.^14
Figural decoration began to predominate on luxury
maiolica by 1520. Yet some painters at Faenza, Castel
Durante, and Urbino championed istoiiato (historiated),
ware, on which painted "stories"—usually historical,
religious, or mythological—cover most, if not all, of
the surface (see no. 29). Istoiiato painting shows the
influence of contemporary panel, fresco, and oil paint
ing, particularly in its illusionistic representation of
deep space. But the time and skill required limited its
output, making istoiiato ware, in spite of what we study
and see in museums, only a small portion of the maiolica
that was produced.
In earlier maiolica forms one finds a union of shape,
decoration, and use. In istoiiato ware, however, the
painted stories were of primary importance, which ex
plains why much full-scale istoiiato painting was exe
cuted on shallow, concave vessels whose surfaces were
largely uninterrupted by rims, depressions, or molded
designs. The shift in emphasis from functional ceramic
receptacles to pictorial glazed surfaces is reflected not
only in istoiiato ceramics but also in maiolica plaques
andpiatti da pompa (show dishes), which were produced
solely for display (see no. 35). The largely unanswered
question of whether fancy, istoiiato maiolica was ever
used at the dining table has provoked a great amount of
discussion among scholars. No evidence exists of
maiolica objects being used for display on a sideboard
(fig. 8), whereas there is no lack of depictions of metal
plate being used in this manner (fig. 9).^15 One has yet to
find incontrovertible evidence on the surface of an isto
iiato piece that it had held food (for example, virtually
invisible fine cracks on the surface of a dish, called craz
ing, can become pronounced when stained with food) or6 Introduction