Earthenware, named after the Italian town of Faenza where it was made famous, is a pottery, by metonymy an object, of earth (terracotta basedargIsle) enamelled or glazed, usually with a white background.

The first tin pottery seems to have been produced in Iraq  around the 9th century,  the oldest fragments unearthed during the First World War, in the palace of Samarra, north of Baghdad. Earthenware then spread to Egypt, Persia and Spain before reaching Italy during the Renaissance, les Spanish Netherlands then United Provinces  Dutch in the 16th century and England, France and other European countries soon after.

The long journey linked to its distribution has given earthenware denominations specific to each country.
Italian Renaissance earthenware was stimulated by the presence of kings of Aragon to Naples  in the 15th century but especially with the importation of Hispano-Moorish ceramics from Valence en Spain  passing through the island of Majorca. She got the generic name of majolica.

Italian potters took advantage of the white enamel of earthenware to paint veritable miniature paintings which benefited from the extraordinary artistic vitality of the Italian Renaissance. From the beginning of the 16th century, human figures appeared in the decorations (so-called “historiated” decorations) inspired by engravings reproducing famous paintings. They gradually supplanted the stylized designs of archaic majolica of the late Middle Ages, although one observes the continuation of ornamental decorations, in particular grotesques in the Mannerist period. These allegorical scenes quickly met the taste of the moment and the decorations gained in finesse and richness until they completely covered the white support of the earthenware paste. Thus the floors of the chapels of the Neapolitan families are covered with polychrome tiles of local production, decorated with plant motifs, animals and portraits.
The first and most inventive center was located at Faenza. The export of his models will cause the term “earthenware” to appear in France.

In the second half of the 15th century, Italian earthenware developed in Tuscany, en Umbria et Emily  by benefiting from the geological resources of Apennines. the majolica then serves as a pageantry for the urban elites, as evidenced by the Camera Bella at the Petrucci palace in Siena.

In the 16th century, Guido Andries trained in Venice before settling in Antwerp en 1508. He produced pharmacy vases with blue and white decoration as well as floors for convents.

Lyon became a major earthenware production center during the 16th century, attracting Florentine and then Ligurian potters. some of them then migrated to Nevers in the 17th century.

The 18th century will be marked by an increase in the number of earthenware factories in France.

Among the most famous: Moustiers, Delft, Gien, Creil-Montereau, Rouen, Desvres, Longwy ....

 

Source: Wikipedia.