We are fortunate in possessing a manual of the Italian potters’ art of the sixteenth century, in the manuscript by the “Cavaliere Cipriano Piccolpassi Durantino,” as he signs his name on the title page of his work. Nearly all the information on this branch of the subject, conveyed to us by Passeri and subsequently by Sig. Giuseppe Raffaelli and other writers, has been gathered from that manuscript written in 1548. We think we cannot do better than go at once to this fountain head, and epitomize the information it conveys, upon the manner and materials, upon the forms and decoration, of maiolica.

After a “prologo” in which the author defends himself from the invidious remarks of others, he tells us how the earth or clay brought down by the river Metauro was gathered from its bed during the summer when the stream was low, and by some was made into large balls, which were stowed in holes (terrai) purposely dug in the ground; by others it was previously dried in the sun; here it remained to mellow and purge itself from impurities, which otherwise would be injurious. This same method of gathering the material for the foundation of the wares was adopted at many other places. At Venice the earth of Ravenna and Rimini is worked, although they frequently use that dug at Battaglia, near Padua, but for the better sort that of Pesaro.

Our author enters into further details of the method of gathering the potters’ clay where there are no rivers, by digging a succession of square pits connected by a channel in the depressions between hills, into which the earth, washed by showers of rain, is refined in its passage from pit to pit. For inferior wares the earth is then collected on a table and well beaten with an iron instrument, weighing twelve pounds, three or four times, being kneaded with the fingers as a woman would in making bread, and all impurities carefully removed. Afterwards it is formed into masses, from which a piece is taken to work upon the wheel or press into moulds. If the earth is too “morbida” it is placed upon the wall or house top, on sieves, through which it is washed by the rain, and gathered in old broken vases, &c., placed beneath.

For making wares “all’ urbinate” (meaning probably with a white ground) the dug clay ought to be white, for if of a blue colour it will not take the tin glaze; this, however, is not objectionable if it is to be covered with a slip of “terra di Vicenza” (a white clay), a method which he terms “alla castellana.” But it is the reverse with the clay gathered from the beds of rivers, the blue in this case being of the better quality.

It is difficult for us now accurately to apply the names which he gives to the variously shaped pieces, and the more so, as we are informed that in our author’s time various names were attached by different artists and at different potteries to the same form. Thus the “Vaso a pera” was also known as “Vaso da due maniche” and “Vaso Dorico;” and the body of such a vase was by some made in one piece, by others in two or three, making joints at the lower part and at the insertion of the neck, and uniting them by means of lute (barbatina). Vases and jugs with pyriform bodies, moulded handles, and shaped spouts, or lips, were known as “a bronzo antico” (fig. 1), their forms, doubtless, being derived from the antique bronze vessels discovered in excavations.

Some of these pieces have a stopper fitting into the neck by a screw, the worm of which is worked upon it by means of a piece of wood (stecca) formed with projecting teeth, the interior of the neck being furnished with a corresponding sunken worm. The details of all these methods are illustrated on the third table of

his atlas of plates. After telling us that the albarello (fig. 2), or drug pot, universally known under that name, is made of different sizes and always of one piece, our author describes the manner of

forming the Vaso senza bocca (fig. 3), a sort of puzzle jug with hermetically fixed cover on the top and an opening beneath the foot, from which an inverted funnel rises inside the body of the vase. To fill it, the piece must be turned upside down and the liquid poured into the funnel below, and may be again poured out at the spout when required, in the ordinary way, the vase having been placed upright.

It is hardly necessary to give a list of different forms, but we may follow our author in his description of that set of five, or sometimes nine separate pieces, which, fitting together, form a single vase (fig. 4). These sets, known as “scudella da donna di parto” or “vasi puerperali,” were made for the use of ladies in their confinements, and consist of the following pieces:—(1.) The broth basin or Scodella, on raised foot. Over this fits the lid (2), which also does duty as a plate (Tagliere) for the roll or slice of bread; inverted over this is the drinking cup. (3), Ongaresca, upon the foot of which fits the salt cellar, Saliera (4), surmounted by its cover (5). The particulars of the arrangement of the nine pieces are not given. Single portions of these are to be found in collections, but the present writer is not aware of any one complete set having been preserved.

Using either the mugiuolo or the scudella, the mass of clay placed upon the disk is revolved by the wheel and fashioned into form with the hands, assisted by variously shaped pieces of flat wood (stecche) and moulding tools of iron (serri) all of which are figured in Piccolpasso’s designs.

The forms of the seggers, case (that is, cases made of fire-clay and pierced with holes, in which the finer wares are baked, being thus protected from dirt or accident in the furnace), and the composition of the clay of which they were made, as also of the tagli, punte, smarelle, pironi, &c. variously formed tripods and supports for holding the pieces to be fired, are given us in detail. The clay consists of a mixture of the red earth used for coarser wares and the white, which is reserved for vases and finer pieces.

Shaped pieces with ornaments in relief, masks, spouts, handles, &c. are formed in moulds made of plaster of Paris (gesso) upon the original models. The mould being ready, the potter’s clay is formed into a cheese-shaped mass of a diameter suitable to the size of the mould; from this slices are cut by means of a wire worked over two pieces of wood of the thickness of the required slice, and placed at either side of the cheese of clay. A slice of even thickness being thus obtained it is pressed by the hand into the hollows of the mould; that for the other side of the piece is then steadily pressed over the clay which occupies the corresponding mould, and the excess exuding from the edge between is neatly cut away. The foot would be similarly formed in another mould, and subsequently attached to the bowl by means of lute (barbatina). This lute is made of the finer quality of clay, much worked and allowed to dry, then mixed with a certain quantity of the shearings of fine woollen cloth, kneaded with water and diluted to the consistence of thick cream.

To make shaped vases or ewers (bronzi antiche) a mould is formed to each side of the piece, uniting longitudinally at the handle and spout; the clay pressed into each of these is neatly cut from the edge by means of the archetto, a wire strained across a forked stick, and joined to the corresponding side with barbatina by which also the handle, formed in another mould, is attached to the piece, the inside being smoothed at the joint by means of a knobbed stick (bastone). The pieces known as “abborchiati,” such as salt-cellars with ornaments in rilievo, are made in the same manner, as are also the “smartellati” or tazze, &c. formed after the manner of pieces in beaten metal (repoussÉ) with bosses and radiating compartments in relief. The basket-like pieces (canestrella) were similarly moulded.

In his second book Piccolpasso gives the receipts and methods of preparing the glaze and colours, commencing with the “marzacotto,” the silicate of potass or glass, which is the foundation of all glaze. We are then told the manner of constructing a reverberatory furnace in which the tin and lead can be oxydized, and which is built of brick with an earth called “sciabione,” probably a sort of fire-clay. It consists of an elongated square structure divided longitudinally into two compartments, in one of which is placed the fire, while the other is occupied, on a higher level, by a shallow tray or trough made of tufo, a volcanic stone, or of brickwork, to contain the metals, upon and over which the flame of the burning wood is made to play in its passage to the draft hole at the end.

The construction of other furnaces is his next subject. They were built of brick and of an elongated quadrilateral plan, divided into two stories by an arched floor, pierced to allow of a free circulation to the heat; the upper chamber, which is higher than the lower, is furnished with four small openings on the upper part of either side (vedette) and nine similar ones in the vaulted roof; the lower chamber has a well or depression sunk about one foot beneath the surface to receive the ashes from the fire, and both it and the upper one have an arched opening or feeding door (bocca) at one end. The dimensions usual at Castel Durante were six feet long by five wide, and six high, but in Venice they were larger, for, says Piccolpasso, “I have seen one at the house of Mº Francesco di Pier ten feet wide by twelve long, outside, having three openings to feed the fire.”

In the upper chamber the wares are placed for baking, the finer sorts being enclosed in the seggers (case) piled one above another, and the coarser arranged between, supported by pieces of tile, &c. and so packed as to fill the chamber as much as possible without impeding the free current of the fire. This is the first baking, and at the same time the pigments, prepared as previously described, are submitted to the action of the fire in the upper part of the furnace. The opening to the upper chamber is then roughly bricked and luted up, leaving only a small orifice (bocchetta) in the upper part. The small lateral openings (vedette) are also closed, and those in the roof loosely covered with pieces of tile. The vases containing the mixture of sand and feccia for making the marzacotto are then placed upon each other under the furnace at the further end (probably in the lower or fire chamber). All being prepared, and invoking the name of God, “uso Christiano,” with the sign of the cross, take a handful of straw and light the fire made of well-dried wood placed in the lower chamber, and which must be gradually increased for four hours, taking care that it is never pushed too much, lest the pieces run or become too hard to receive the glaze. The furnace should be of a clear heat all throughout and so continued for about twelve hours, drawing away the ashes from below with the “cacciabragie” or rake. When sufficiently baked let the fire burn out, and remove the cinders that all may become cool.

We must refer to the Introduction to the large catalogue of the maiolica collection at South Kensington for further extracts, quoting here one sentence only where the author says, “And now I will give you the ‘sbiancheggiati’ that is made in Lombardy, bearing in mind that the earth of Vicenza is used, making the design on the white earth; I would say with a style of iron of this kind (gives design), and this drawing is called ‘sgraffio.’” This is an interesting passage connecting as it does these incised wares with the fabriques of Lombardy, to which, from the character of the designs upon the earlier pieces, we have always assigned them.

In his third book Piccolpasso goes into further details of the glaze and colours, manner of painting, firing, &c.

The “bianchetto” which is only once baked, and the other colours, being removed from the furnace, are triturated with water on a “piletta” or hand colour mill, or by means of a pestle and mortar, to reduce them to a fine powder, and passed through a horse-hair sieve. Some grind them on a slab of porphyry which is even better. The green pigment may be baked two or three times. The “zallo” and the “zallulino,” after once or twice baking, are covered with earth and again baked in the hottest part of the furnace.

The white enamel glaze, having been properly milled and fined through a sieve, is made into a bath with water to the consistency of milk. The pottery baked in biscuit is taken out of the furnace, and after being carefully dusted with a fox’s tail is dipped into this bath of glaze and immediately withdrawn, or some of the pieces may be held in the left hand while the liquor is poured over them from a bowl. A trial piece should show the thickness of glove leather in the adhering coat. The “invetriatura” having been thus applied and the pieces allowed to dry are now ready to receive the painting. This is executed with coarser and finer brushes or penelli, made of goats’ and asses’ hair, and the finest of the whiskers of rats or mice; the ordinary wares being held in the left hand or on the left knee and the finer in wooden cases, lined with tow, to prevent rubbing. A different brush must be used for each colour. The painters generally sit round a circular table suspended from the ceiling so that it may turn round, and upon this the different pigments are placed.

The painted pieces after being dried in a clean place, taking care that the “bianco” is not chipped or rubbed off, are painted with zallulino on the outer edge and are then ready to receive the “coperta” or outer glaze. The liquid of the bath must be thin, as a translucent coating only is required over the colours; into this the pieces are dipped, and being again dried are ready for the final firing.

In a supplement Piccolpasso gives us an account of the manner of making maiolica, and it will be observed that throughout his narrative he has never applied that term to the painted and glazed wares produced at his own botega, or at any of the others to which he refers.

He tells us that he feels he ought not to omit the account of it which he has received from others, although he has never made or even witnessed the making of it himself. “I know well” he says “that it is painted over finished works; this I have seen in Ugubio, at the house of one Maestro Cencio.” The portion of the design which is to receive the lustre colour is left white at the first painting; thus, a figure in a grotesque whose extremities are to be lustred will only have those parts painted which are to be coloured, leaving the extremities merely sketched in outline upon the white ground; these, after the colours have been set by firing, are subsequently touched with the lustre pigment. The process of firing differs from the former one, because the pieces are not enclosed in seggars but are exposed to the direct action of the flames.

The furnace also is differently constructed, the fire chamber square in form, having no arched roof pierced with holes but only two intersecting arches of brick to support the chamber above, the four corners being left as openings for the free current of the flames. Upon these arches is placed a large circular chamber or vessel, formed of fire-clay, which fits into the square brick structure, touching at the four sides and supported on the intersecting arches beneath, but leaving the angles free. This inner chamber is pierced in all directions with circular holes, to allow the flames free passage among the wares. The method of building these furnaces is kept guarded, and it is pretended that in it and the manner of firing consist the great secrets of the art. The scudelli are packed with the edge of one against the foot of another, the first being supported on an unglazed cup. The furnaces are small, only from three to four feet square, because this art is uncertain in its success, frequently only six pieces being good out of one hundred; “true the art is beautiful and ingenious, and when the pieces are good they pay in gold.” The fire is increased gradually, and is made of palli or dry willow branches; with these three hours firing is given, then, when the furnace shows a certain clearness, having in readiness a quantity of dry broom cease using the willow wood, and give an hour’s firing with this; after, with a pair of tongs remove a sample from above. Others leave an opening in one of the sides by which a sample or trial, painted on a piece of broken ware, can be removed for examination, and if it appears sufficiently baked decrease the fire. This done, allow all to cool, then take out the wares and allow them to soak in a lessive of soap-suds, wash and rub them dry with a piece of flannel, then with another dry piece and some ashes (of wood) give them a gentle rubbing, which will develope all their beauty.

“This is all, as it appears to me, that can be said about the maiolica, as also about the other colours and mixtures that are required in this art.”