Maiolica

Maiolica designates Italian tin-glazed earthenware dating from the Renaissance. An alternative spelling, "Majolica", is ofetn used for glazed earthenwares produced in the nineteenth century.

The name is thought to come from the medieval Italian word for Majorca, an island on the route for ships that brought Spanish lustred Hispano-Moresque wares, to Italy from Valencia in the 15th and 16th centuries, or from the Spanish term obra de Malaga that denotes “[imported] wares from Malaga”. During the Renaissance, the term maiolica referred solely to lusterware, including both Italian-made and Spanish imports, but eventually the term came to be used when describing ceramics made only in Italy, lustered or not, that were tin-glazed earthenware covered. The tin glaze produced a brilliant white when fired, giving artists an opaque surface to paint over. This surface absorbs pigment like fresco, making errors impossible to fix, but preserving the brilliant colors of the Renaissance in a way that paintings cannot.

References

• “Marvels of Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics from the Corcoran Gallery of Art” by Jacqueline Marie Musacchio. Bunker Hill Publishing, 2004
• A Guide To Looking At Italian Ceramics by David Harris Cohen and Catherine Hess, J. Paul Getty Museum in association with British Museum Press, 1993