European Earthenware

Italian maiolica is one of the most sophisticated and
refined ceramics produced in Renaissance Europe. Maiolica is tin-glazed
earthenware, a technique which involved the addition of ashes of tin to a
lead glaze in order to create an opaque white background for
decoration. Originating in the ninth century in present-day Iraq, the
technique spread throughout the Islamic world, reaching Southern Spain
by the twelfth century, before establishing itself firmly in Italy in
the fourteenth century.
One of the greatest artistic achievements of the Italian Renaissance,
maiolica played important roles in the social and domestic lives of
individuals. Ceramics held multiple functions; while some objects were
deeply embedded in the humanist culture of the time, others served to
commemorate important events, such as marriage and birth. Apothecaries
also stimulated the maiolica industry with large commissions of
pharmaceutical wares.
Istoriato, or narrative painting, represents the most
ambitious stylistic development in the history of maiolica. Istoriato
wares were decorated with scenes derived from ancient texts, mythology,
as well as religious sources. The high fashion from around 1500 to about
1570, istoriato was produced in various towns of north-central Italy,
with the Duchy of Urbino as the leading centre.
The Italian Renaissance maiolica collection at the Gardiner Museum is
the most important in Canada. It forms part of the original donation
made by George and Helen Gardiner.

Faenza was one of the earliest maiolica centres to produce the new istoriato style of decoration, where the surface of the vessel was painted with a narrative scene as if it were a fresco or oil painting. Maiolica artists frequently sought inspiration from prints and book illustrations, and chose to depict scenes from the Bible or classical stories, such as the Rape of Europa on this dish. So popular were ceramics made in Faenza, that almost all tin-glazed earthenware made in Europe eventually became known as faience.

This large pharmacy jar contained Zucarū Rosatū, or rose-flavoured sugar, as indicated on the scroll beneath the centre scene. Roses were an integral element of Islamic and Renaissance medicine. They were used extensively as a purgative, to aid the healing of wounds after surgery, for the reduction of inflammation, and to induce sleep.

Slip-decorated pieces, commonly known as slipware, were
produced in the region of Staffordshire and Wrotham in Kent from the
early 1660s to the eighteenth century. This type of earthenware is
decorated with slip (coloured liquid clay), applied as relief decoration
using a variety of techniques such as trailing and stamping. This
resulted in bold and freely executed designs. Being more economical to
produce than delftware and porcelain, slipware was accessible to a wider
segment of society including the lower end of the middle class.
Part of the original gift made by George and Helen Gardiner, this
small collection includes ornamental chargers and drinking vessels in
shapes derived from metalwork. Some examples present inscriptions,
indicating that they may have been commissioned to commemorate important
life events, such as births and weddings.

The large bird on this dish may symbolize The Pelican in Her Piety, more typically portrayed as a long-necked bird who pricks her breast to feed her starving young on drops of her blood. Although a Thomas Toft is normally associated with such boldly-trailed, trellis-bordered dishes from the 1660s and 1670s, the crude execution of the central bird may indicate that it was made by a similarly named, but later, member of the family.

Fragments from similar Lot’s Wife dishes, bearing references to the Bible (Luke 32:7), have been excavated in Burslem, in association with the Malkin factory, and in Yorkshire at Riveaulx Abbey. At least seven intact examples also survive, most of them with slip-dotted borders. Several other relief-modelled dishes with the initials SM also have religious or humorous motifs picked out in coloured slips.

Tin-glazed earthenware was introduced to England in the
late sixteenth century by Flemish potters who settled in the region of
Norfolk to escape religious persecution, however, potteries specializing
in tin-glazed earthenware (known as delftware) flourished in the London
area from about 1610. They served a wide segment of seventeenth-century
society, with the highest demand coming from the gentry, rich
tradesmen, and members of flourishing guilds. Increased market demand
stimulated the emergence of potteries in Brislington near Bristol, and
throughout the British Isles.
The collection illustrates a broad range of functional and decorative
objects, embellished with popular heraldic and royal motifs, and
showing the new fashion for chinoiseries and the impact of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain.
Until England started producing porcelain domestically from 1745
onwards, delftware potteries supplied better-quality ceramic tableware
to a middle-class clientele who could not afford Chinese porcelain, nor
the continental imports from France and Germany. The production of
delftware started to decline in the 1770s when creamware, a new and
technically superior earthenware body was introduced to the market.
The Gardiner Museum’s collection of English delftware was largely
donated by George and Helen Gardiner and was expanded with a significant
gift from Joan Clark from the collection of Thomas Henry Clark.

Painting and reliefs on these shoes imitate flowered chintz fabric (imported from China), patterned cloth tapes, and glass-paste buckles that were featured on their fashionable, wearable counterparts. In traditional English society, shoes symbolized good luck: real shoes sometimes were placed in chimneys to ward off evil, or more recently, were tied to the bumpers of newlyweds’ automobiles. Ceramic shoes probably were gifts wishing the recipients well. Dated English delft shoes are known from 1654 to 1768, and some bear the original owners’ initials.

This rare and early puzzle jug bears an unusual portrayal of Charles II without a moustache. Known from the Middle Ages on, puzzle jugs commonly feature a hollow rim with one or more nozzles and a hollow handle that opens into the body near the base.

In drinking games, wagers were won by imbibers who could cover the appropriate nozzles and other holes to suck out the contents of the vessel.

This collection surveys the production of some of the
most important centres of production of tin-glazed earthenware in
France, where the wares were known as faïence. Knowledge of tin-glazing
reached France in the second half of the sixteenth century when Italian
artisans settled in the cities of Rouen, Lyon, and Nevers. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, production spread to other centres
such as Marseilles, Moustier, and Sceaux.
Tin-glazed earthenware was used in the making of both functional and
ornamental objects. Pieces in the Gardiner Museum’s collection also show
how faïence makers first worked under the influence of Italian maiolica
before turning to Chinese porcelain as their main source of
inspiration.
Faïence provided a less expensive alternative to Chinese porcelain
and to the European hard-paste and soft-paste porcelain produced in the
eighteenth century. The discovery of kaolin sources in France, which
enabled the production of more durable hard-paste porcelain, as well as
the spread of less expensive creamware, caused the decline of the
faïence industry in the late eighteenth century.
The Gardiner’s collection of French faïence was donated by Pierre Karch and Mariel O’Neill-Karch.

The motifs of antiques and a vase with flowers on this dish were inspired by Chinese porcelain. Faïence makers were the first to produce porcelain in France, so the exchange of designs is not surprising.

Creamware is a type of fine earthenware with a
cream-coloured body produced in England and Europe during the late
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Various versions of creamware were
developed by potters in the mid-eighteenth century.  Josiah Wedgwood,
however, deserves recognition for improving the formula in the 1740s and
for transforming it into a popular, mass-produced commodity in the
1760s.
Creamware possessed many of the same practical and aesthetic
qualities as porcelain, but could be produced for a fraction of the
cost.  For this reason, it quickly emerged as the ceramic tableware of
choice for middle class consumers.  Competition from creamware producers
put great pressure on many English and European porcelain and
earthenware factories, forcing some of them to modify their products and
others to go out of business.
The creamware collection, which was donated by Jean and Ken Laundy,
includes objects made in Staffordshire and illustrates the spread of the
medium to other regions of England and to factories of continental
Europe.

This coffee pot was probably modeled on a silver prototype. Very similar forms were produced by many different creamware factories in Staffordshire and Yorkshire during the 1770s and 80s. Coffee was enjoyed by people of the time as a stimulant that inspired conversation and aided digestion.

The Gardiner Museum’s holdings include examples of earthenware and
stoneware produced in European factories in Germany, England, Italy, and
Switzerland.