ANST - Terracotta Sculpture (long)

[D. R. Hoffpauir]

Ace wrote:

>
> >> David St.David wrote:
>
> >What separated della Robbia was a new method of glazing.
>
>   >Majolica, a lead based glaze at the time, was well know, but was
> unpredictable in results and produced a >dull color and finish.  Sometime
> around 1430, Luca della Robbia began substituting tin which gave
> >predictable results and a high color finish.
>
> My lord:
>
> I enjoyed your post, but I must address the statement above.  While the
> della Robbia family made great contributions to the enhancement of majolica,
> a much richer history of majolica and\or tin glazed pottery exists:
>
> In my opinion and research, majolica has its roots (and some would argue
> beginnings) as far back as the ancient Middle East, and was propogated by
> the Babylonians.  Ancient Egyptians were noted to make pottery of coarse
> clay and cover it with an opaque tin-oxide glaze, which was later known in
> Italy as Faience.  Molded pieces with lead glaze and lusterware fragments
> have been noted in Hellinistic Greece.  Artisans of 9th Centruy Islam later
> perfected the technique of tin-glzed ware.  Most notably, Samarrakind
> pottery of the Abbasid caliphs (made between 836 adn 883) was some of the
> most brilliantly colored pottery of this kind, and they employed this
> technique.
>
> Aslyn

Aslyn,

    I agree with you on earlier examples of ceramics using tin based enamels.
Most likely this was not an idea original to della Robbia and, after a re-read,
I guess I did say that.

    The original question was looking into period use of terra cotta as a
decorative medium, specifically statuary, in Europe.  I've checked a couple of
books on the issue and every one points straight at della Robbia as the source.
They also credit him with the 'innovative' use of tin rather that lead based
enamel glazes.  This is probably Eurocentric history.  One source indicates that
tin based Majolica was being imported to Italy in the early Renaissance.
Specifically it came from the Western Mediterranian island of Majorca, the
Italian spelling being 'Maiolica.'  The Moors had brought the technique to Spain
during their invasions of the 8th Century.  On the other end of the
Mediterranean the Assyrians had the formula as early as 1100 B.C.  There was
also a backward shift of using lead instead of tin.  This was a deliberate use
started by Bernard Palissy in France about 1510 (this is the formula that
Herbert Minton copied in 1851).  Supposedly it gave a clear instead of an opaque
glaze (which is just the opposite of what another book says).  This process was
also called Faience, opposite to what you say above, that's history, go figure.

    Anyway I'm not an enamlist and hardly a historian.  Any fault you find, I'll
gladly blame on another :)  .

cheers,
David 'datswhatdebooksaid' St. David





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