Medieval And Early Modern Pottery 411
around the two Tyrrhenian ports, determined the success of these materi-
als, which spread in large quantities throughout the Mediterranean and the
Atlantic coast, arriving sometimes, as in Sardinia, to “monopolize” the mar-
ket. In the fifteenth century the Valencian area, marked by some large testares
(local productions centers) located between Valencia, Paterna, and Manises,
conquers the Mediterranean markets. The production of good quality, original,
and exotic majolicas, with golden decoration (luster) often associated with the
color blue, allowed a widespread and quantitatively significant distribution
that did would not only reach the coastal areas, but also in the interior.
It thus seems clear that, for the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the re-
gional market is conditioned by the presence of good quality artifacts that
could have hindered the inclusion of similar goods produced in other centers.
In the late Middle Ages, in fact, material sources show a simplification of the
geography of trade relations that does not reflect the complexity presented by
the written sources. Neapolitan and Sicilian ceramics of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries are missing in the archaeological contexts of the island,
although the written sources reveal a commercial connection between these
areas and Sardinia.56 This absence of material could have a double explana-
tion: on the one hand it is likely due to a limitation of the current research
that is still failing to classify certain pottery types found in the archaeological
layers; on the other hand, it is possible that the late medieval pottery is not a
reliable indicator for the reconstruction of trade flows, because its distribution
was managed by operators of the bigger manufacturing centers (Pisa, Liguria,
Barcelona, and Valencia). In this second explanation, starting from the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries it is necessary to analyze the pottery trade phe-
nomenon for its own sake, rather than considering the artifacts as indicators of
broader trade as it occurs, properly, for other historical periods.
Translated by Irina Oryshkevich and Michelle Hobart
56 Henri Bresc, “Medieval and Modern Sicily and the Kingdoms of Sardinia and Corsica” in
this volume; Simbula and Soddu, La Sardegna nel Mediterraneo.