England, Metropolitan Ware

17. England, Metropolitan ware, red earthenware trailed and feathered slip, 17th c.
The slipware industry developed in England as part of a "pan-European fashion" for decorative tablewares. Wares such as these competed with more expensive tin-glazed wares, which represented the height of fashion in middle-class homes. Tin-glaze, in turn, competed with and was influenced by blue and white Chinese porcelain imported into the region at this time. The designs were made by trailing light coloured slip onto red earthenware through a cow-horn or pottery vessel fitted with a quill or reed; the wares were then lead-glazed and once-fired, making a very economical product for the lower end of the social spectrum. A wide range of decorative motifs were employed including geometric, floral and figural designs appropriate for the urban market. One defining feature was the use of texts, a practice possibly originating in the previous century in the Rhineland area of Germany with texts added to salt-glazed stoneware. Metropolitan wares produced in Essex featured texts applied in block letters with pious aphorisms urging humility, charity or loyalty to the crown. Texts influenced by the Puritan government of the day were replaced with royalist messages after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. See David Gaimster, "Regional Decorative Traditions in English Post-Medieval Slipware," in your course text, pp 129-130.

Medieval Jugs found in SE England

16. Medieval jugs found in SE England, earthenware, thrown, slip decorated, late 12th-early 13th c. Left to right: early 13th-c. made/found in London; mid 13th-century decorated jug made in Kingston; 13th-c. jug made in Rouen, found in Oxfordshire; late 12th-c. incised tripod pitcher made in London. Kingston Jug Medieval, late 13th century, From Kingston, Surrey, England. This jug was found in the nineteenth century in an old chalk well in Cannon Street, near London Bridge, during construction work. It takes its name from the medieval kiln in Surrey where it was probably made. It is highly decorated in a style which imitates French pottery and clearly demonstrates the influence of French tastes on English tableware in the thirteenth century. The rich variety of coloured glazes is achieved by the addition of iron (for brown/red), copper (for green) and lead (for yellow). The diamond-shaped panels, containing rampant lions (or dragons) alternating with dark green inverted chevrons, show both the imagination and technical diversity of the medieval potter. Height: 28.5 cm (British Museum

Bernard Palissy Lead Glazed piece rustique

15. France, Bernard Palissy (workshop), lead-glazed earthenware, piece rustique c. 1575-1600. See notes on Palissy in this blog.

Deruta, Maiolica Dish

14. Italy, Deruta, Maiolica dish, c. 1490-1525 inscribed PÊDORMIRENONSAQUISTA ('nothing is gained by sleeping'). Dia. 40 cm Height 8 cm. (British Museum)When applied to maiolica, the term 'belle donne' (Italian 'beautiful women') usually refers to a category of dishes or plates bearing female heads and a scroll inscribed with a name or motto. They were produced in large numbers in several Italian pottery centres between around 1520 and 1550, for a wide variety of clients. The female image is idealized to such a degree that it is unlikely to be an accurate likeness of a particular woman. However, the names, either with or without adjective or mottoes, are thought to refer to contemporary women, often local worthies or local beauties, as suggested by a contemporary sonnet addressed to a potter in Todi, not far from Deruta. Those pieces with a moralizing inscription are not belle donne wares in the true sense, but are part of the artistic tradition of portraying female images with a moralizing statement, often one that appears to be specifically addressed to a female audience.

Delft Pyramid Vase

13.
Holland, Delft, Pyramid vase, tin-glaze earthenware, 1690-1720, over 100 cm high.
This form is called a tulip or pyramid vase. In fact, it was not only used for tulips; all sorts of cut flowers could be arranged in it. This example was made in Delft, between 1690 and 1720 and it is more than a metre high. The construction comprises a stack of vases. Inside, a wooden stick holds the successive basins in place. The separate vases were needed because all the flowers required their own water supply. To make the vase in one piece would have been counterproductive: the water would have escaped once it rose above the bottom spouts. But that was not the only reason why a stack of successive vases was chosen. In 1700 Delft potters had not yet discovered how to fire such high forms. As a single piece, this vase would have collapsed in the kiln. Vases with spouts for individual flowers were made in all sorts of shapes in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. The pyramid vase was the ultimate achievement in this field.
Forty flowers could be arranged in this tower of Delft blue Faience, a type of pottery covered in a thick white tin glaze. Usually the glaze is decorated with motifs before being fired in the kiln for the last time. This type of pottery - unlike porcelain - is not pure white: the inside inner layer is brown or beige. The word 'faience' comes from Faenza, on of the Italian cities that specialised in this type of pottery in the 14th and 15th centuries. Faience is also called majolica, presumably a corruption of Majorca. It was through this island that the pottery was shipped. In the 17th century Delft became a major centre of painted faience production. Delftware was renowned as a skilful imitation of Chinese porcelain. The vase is decorated with flowers and birds. On the base, Flora, the goddess of flowers, is painted. The form of the tower is based on two exotic structures which were in fashion in the late seventeenth century. The pointed shape is reminiscent of the Egyptian obelisk. An obelisk is a square-sectioned column tapering towards the top and culminating in a pyramid. The origins of the form lie in ancient Egypt. Numerous obelisks were taken by the Romans from Egypt and displayed throughout Rome as decorative monuments. In the Renaissance the obelisk returned in smaller form as an ornamental motif., a structure that symbolised immortality and princely fame. A pagoda is a freestanding tower-like Asiatic structure. The word is usually applied to Chinese temples built up of different levels. Miniature pagodas are often found in Western art as motifs intended to give an object an oriental tint. Pagodas were known in the Netherlands from illustrations in seventeenth-century travel descriptions of China. The mystery of far-off China caught people's imagination in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.The French word 'Chinoiserie' actually means a work of art from China. However, the term is usually employed to denote the fashion for oriental, or Chinese shapes that raged in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The term 'chinoiserie' is also used for an object dating from this China fashion, such as the gardens with Chinese temples and pagodas or the imitation Chinese porcelain, with imitation Chinese decorations. Often, the decorative motifs comprised a mixture of fantasised Chinese or Oriental figures and shapes together with European Rococo ornamentation, decorated walls, furniture and dinnerware. (Rijksmuseum)

Iran, Kashan, Stonepaste Bottle

12. Iran, Kashan, Stonepaste bottle, painted in lustre with seated figures and prowling animals Dated Muharram 575 AH, (CE 1179) Height: 14.3 cm.
The earliest known piece of Kashan lustreware. This bottle is the earliest known dated Iranian example of the lustreware technique. Its neck is missing, and the body is in a fragmentary state, but much of the decoration is clearly visible. The main band shows a seated group of people, against a background of leafy ornament which suggests a garden setting. Below the garden-party is an inscription of a poem. Below the inscription is a succession of hounds chasing hares, against a simple pattern of curling vegetation. This is a popular subject on luxury objects, referring to the favourite noble pastime of hunting. A similar band is on the top of the bottle. The lowest band is decorated with a trellis of stylized curling plant stems.Translation of poem on bottle:'Oh Heavenly sphere, why do you set afflictions before me? Oh Fortune, why do you scatter salt on my wounds? Oh Enemy of mine, how often will you strike at me? I am struck by my own fate and fortune.May joy, exultation and cheerfulness be with you.May prosperity, happiness and triumph be your companions.'(Translation: O. Watson)

Iraq, Abbasid Dynasty Bowl

11. Iraq, Abbasid dynasty, 9th c. Bowl. earthenware, painted in-glaze. 5.7 x 20.8 x 20.8 cm. (Freer Gallery)
Among the earliest surviving works of art decorated with writing are a group of ceramic vessels, produced in Iraq and Iran under the rule of the powerful Abbasid dynasty (749–1258). Inspired by the whiteness and purity of the much admired, imported Chinese porcelain, Muslim potters created their own "white ware" by covering their buff-colored earthenware vessels with a glaze containing a small amount of lead and tin, which turns opaque when fired. This bowl combines both vegetal motifs and calligraphic design in cobalt and copper glazes. Surrounded by windswept palmettes, the inscription in the center confers blessings to the owner. (Freer)