Faience or faïence is a French word for maiolica. It is the usual name in English for fine tin-glazed pottery.
The word derives from the name of the Italian city of Faenza, in the Romagna near Ravenna, a city well known since the 15th century for its maiolica production.
Italian tin-glazed earthenwares was produced for export throughout Europe as early as the fifteenth century. Thence the common use of the word faience.
Engobe is a liquid clay applied on a baked ceramic (“biscuit“) to cover its surface.
The purpose of the engobe is to provide a ground for further decoration, to give colour to a piece, or to improve its surface texture.
The city of Delft was the capital of Dutch ceramic production. Delft faience is known as Delftware.
After the capture of Antwerp by the Spanish in 1585, Italian artisans settled in several Belgian and Dutch cities, including Delft. These craftsmen were strongly influenced by the tin-glazing techniques developed in Spain (see azulejo) and later-on in Italy. During the 17th century, Delft factories began producing polychrome ceramics which copied Chinese Kangshi and Japanese Imari wares.
Blue Delftware was frequently copied in England and northern France in the 18th century. Many 18th century Delft tiles and murals can be admired throughout Europe, including Saint Petersburg, and in U.S. colonial houses.
See many examples in our gallery of Delft tiles.
The Della Robbia ceramics are a type of maiolica bas-reliefs created by a Florentine family of sculptors.
Luca Della Robbia (around 1400-1482) is the founder of the atelier. He perfected a process for making clay reliefs and figures permanent by glazing them. Originally, these were figures on a blue background. His medallions and reliefs of the Madonna and Child are especially notable. He later added glazes of many colours, especially green and yellow, to the bas-reliefs, usually with a wreath of fruit and flowers surrounding the figures. Many of the Della Robbia terra-cottas are still in their original settings on buildings in Florence and Siena.
Cuerda seca means dry rope in Spanish. It is a technique used in ceramic by which outlines are drawn on the surface of the tile with a syringe containing a greasy substance coloured by an oxide of manganese. The resulting outlines prevent the coloured glazes from mingling. The greasy substance disappears during the baking of the tile and leaves a black line.
This technique was first developed in the late 14th century in Persia, and was thereafter used in Al-Andalus (present day Spain). Beautiful examples of hispano-moresque cuerda seca tiles are still in place in the Alhambra of Granada or in the Alcazar of Seville.
This technique was again much used in the Art Nouveau ceramic tiles and murals.
Celadon is a type of Chinese porcelain ware with a light blue-green shade. It is also known as greenware.
The word is probably a corruption of the name Sãlãh-ed-dîn or Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt, who is said to have given forty pieces of celadon wares to the Sultan of Damascus in 1171. It is sometimes suggested that the name derives from the colour of the costume of the shepherd Céladon, main character of L’Astrée, a famous 17th century French novel. The Chinese word for celadon is Doh chin which means green bean glaze, while the Japanese name is Seiji.
A stove tile is a ceramic tile that is thick so as to keep and diffuse warmth. Stove tiles are often showing relief. They are glazed and sometimes decorated. The first ceramic stove appeared in Germany in the 13th century.
A ceramic biscuit is a piece of ceramic that has been fired once but not yet glazed.
This can be the final state of the ceramic, for instance in the case of bisque porcelain, or of unglazed earthenware, usually called terracotta.
Jean Bérain (1640-1711) was a French draughtsman, painter and engraver of ornament during the reign of Louis XIV. He reinterpreted in an original way the grotesque of the Renaissance which then took the name of arabesque. He published many prints and a collection of engravings that will allow the dissemination of this fanciful style called “décor à la Bérain” or Bérainesque. This style can be observed in particular on the decorations of ceramic ware of various French manufactures, such as Rouen, Marseilles, or Moustiers.
