Sicilian Majolica - Timeless Ceramic
Art
It's literally a piece of Sicily.
Terra cotta harvested from the earth and caressed by the Sicilian sun. Next
it's formed, moulded. Then it's glazed - colors painted on a white background
define majolica - and fired at high temperatures. In some ways this
is the purest Sicilian art, something that has withstood the test of time,
flourishing in Sicily for over four millennia. To call it "pottery,"
apart from the fact that vases are but one kind of object created in majolica,
doesn't do justice to this timeless art.
Like any other unique work of art, a ceramic piece begins with an idea.
That idea is the vision of an individual artist. Then there's the material.
The clay found in each region of the world is unique. Sicilian clay, used
in terra cotta earthenware over the millennia, is different from the clay
of Mexico or Mongolia because it contains a combination of silicates unique
to Sicily. This clay, freshly mined from the Sicilian mountains and valleys,
is moulded by hand by ceramic masters, and then left to dry under the sun.
The object is then painstakingly painted in ornate motifs with rich glazes
before being fired (baked) in a kiln. During this last phase of creation,
something miraculous happens. In the heat, the sun-dried clay hardens to
become terra cotta and then crystallizes into ceramic. Its molecular structure
changes, becoming firmer but also more durable. The glazed enamel also crystallizes,
actually binding to the ceramic as it assumes a deeper, more distinct color.
There are, of course, various decorative ceramic products made in Sicily
and sold around the world. Bearing whimsical or even gaudy motifs, these
products are sometimes signed with an artist's name but actually painted
by low-paid workers, many of whom aren't even Sicilian.
Ceramic, terra cotta, maiolica, china, porcelain. What do these terms
really mean, and how will understanding them help you to choose the ceramic
art that's right for you?
The most important factor in making your selection is a matter of purely
personal taste - but keep lead content in mind (the metal is present in
certain reddish glazes).
To many of us, the very word "ceramic" conjures images
of plain wall tiles like the ones in our kitchens. "Ceramic,"
from the Greek keramos (potter's clay), describes a vast array of
artistic techniques leading to the creation of items fashioned from hardened
or baked clay.
Terra cotta (Italian for "baked earth") is a process
of baking or partially baking clay objects to make them brittle and water-resistant.
Known as earthenware, the clay pottery of ancient Egypt was terra cotta
of this type. Since the color and chemical composition of clay varies from
place to place, depending on its "clay minerals" (such as silicates),
the earthenware of Persia was a different substance from that of Spain.
When the clay is fully baked (fired) at a higher temperature, resulting
in an opaque material, it is referred to simply as "ceramic" or
"stoneware." If the clay is mixed with feldspar or steatite before
baking, the resulting ceramic material is known as porcelain. In general,
ceramic is a shade of brown or "terra cotta" even after firing,
and somewhat coarse (granular) in consistency. Porcelain is usually
rather translucent, with a white or gray color and a more refined (less
granular) texture.
As its name implies, the porcelain known as "china" was originally
made exclusively in China. The best known European porcelain is called Capodimonte,
after the Italian town where it is still made today. Porcelain is a form
of ceramic, but not all ceramic is porcelain.
Majolica, from the Italian for "Majorca," refers to
the form of ceramic earthenware made in Italy that is painted with tin oxide
glazing enamels before being fired to a reflective, durable finish. Most
of the ceramic art sold in Sicily today is majolica. However, "majolica"
(or maiolica) is a rather recent term.
It was probably the thirteenth-century Spaniards of Aragon who first
referred to colored Sicilian ceramic objects as "maiolica" because
the glazing and firing techniques used to create these pieces were similar
to those used on Majorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands. This was
a logical choice of terms, since it was the Moors who brought majolica to
both Sicily and Spain.
One of the things that made medieval maiolica so obviously different
from the terra cotta stoneware of the ancient Greeks was its glazing technique.
The glazes used in majolica are usually viscous tin oxide colors applied
over a white imprimatura ("ground"). Apart from its chemical
composition, the characteristic that makes majolica different from porcelain
is its relatively low firing temperature. Majolica was probably introduced
into the Arab world sometime during the ninth century, around the time the
Moors conquered Sicily. This early majolica probably reflected the Arabs'
attempts to reproduce Chinese (and Mongolian) porcelain; the painted white
ground may have been an effort to duplicate porcelain's naturally light
color. In the Mediterranean world, the result was majolica, an art that
may be said to combine the best features of both terra cotta and porcelain.
Finding artistic majolica in Sicily isn't difficult, but it helps if
you know where to look:
Caltagirone: This hill town in southeastern
Sicily is famous for its majolica, and well worth a visit if you're an aficionado.
It's full of shops.
Santo Stefano di Camastra: This town
overlooking the coast between Palermo and Messina is the chief ceramic center
of western Sicily, having a number of shops, though not quite as many as
Caltagirone.
Taormina: Sicily's main resort has
dozens of shops selling everything, including majolica art - much of it
from Caltagirone.
Palermo: In the island's busy capital
the better majolica shops are hidden along side streets, so we'll mention
Città Cotte at Corso Vittorio Emanuele120, Clart at
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 310, Tradizioni Artistiche at Corso Vittorio
Emanuele140, Kamares at Corso Vittorio Emanuele 400 (all in the Quattro
Canti area), Tre Erre at Via E. Amari 49 (near the port), De Simone
at Via G. Daita 13, and Cerimacando nearby at Via La Lumia 47 (Politeama area).
