Bright and shiny Sicilian ceramics remind us of the leaving summer. This year the Petersburgers have got wise to art of the Italian island at the exhibition “Dialogue with Ceramics” held in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The exposition has included more than 170 unique ceramic pieces from Antiquity up to the XIX century from the collection of the Caltagirone Regional Museum
of Ceramics.
Flask. Caltagirone. 1892. Caltagirone Regional Museum of Ceramics [zoom (45k)]
The ruler of Sicily used to be considered the sovereign of Mediterranean. During ceaseless wars for the possessing of the island Sicily was captured by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Later there were Barbarian tribes, the Byzantines , and the Arabs who waged the war for the Mediterranean sea. The Arabian conquest was followed by the Norse invasion. The Frenchmen were thrown down during the rebellion of “Sicilian vespers” when the Spanish were called to rule. They spread the Spanish regime up to the beginning of the XVIII century. In such a way, being an autonomous region of Italy, Sicily has unique history as well as reach multinational heritage.
Numerous conquests developed the culture of the island. Ceramic art was enriched with new forms, materials, and decoration. However, Sicilian ceramics kept its originality.
The early samples of ceramic ware found in Sicily are dated from the end of VII – beginning of VI century B.C. A real flourish of Sicilian ceramics is connected with the appearance of Greek colonies on the island. The largest centres of ceramics were Caltagirone, Sciacca, Palermo, and Syracuse — towns based by the Greeks. Vase-painters imitated the perfect samples of Greek ceramics. In the IV century B.C. the Peloponess wars ended in the devastation of Athens, and the export of attic vases to Southern Italy was stopped; Sicilian ceramic ware got its individual features. Sicilian pottery painting is characterized by soft and natural manner. The Sicilians largely used not only traditional black varnish, but also complementary colours — white, yellow, blue, red, pink and green. The sample of multicolours painting is a pyx from the collection of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts with the depiction of wedding preparations scene (330–320 B.C.). Light contours of the painting convey naturalness of postures and expression of gestures; make it emotional.
The popularity of white clay ceramics covered with leaden glaze can be explained by Byzantine influence. Thin white clay vases were often decorated with green or yellow enamel and then covered with transparent glaze. Fantastic animals and birds, floral ornaments, Christian symbols were the main themes of the period. The exhibition in the Peter and Paul Fortress has included a green glazed dish with the depiction of a fantastic beast, white clay amphoras and phials of the XII century.
In the VII–VIII centuries the Arabs conquered a great territory from India to south-west Portugal. In 827 they captured the island and ruled it more than a century. Arabian pottery was largely decorated with opaque tin glaze that had been still unknown for the Europeans. It hid the colour of the crockery and gave more ability for painting. New tin glaze technique and the combination of European traditions and oriental ornamentation caused two phenomenons — Hispano-Moresque ceramics and famous Italian majolica. Later it influenced the development of faience production all over the European continent. Another invention of the Middle East was luster painting. Luster is a overglaze ceramic paint with metal gleam. Both Italian and Spanish masters turned to the technique. In the èIV–XVII centuries Sicily was ruled by the Spanish; at the same time it had close trade relations with Italian cities. Pottery pieces covered with luster have been also displayed at the exhibition in the Peter and Paul Fortress. They resemble the art of Valencia. A dish painted with reddish-copper luster dates from XVI century. The floral ornament gathers round a figure of the bird on the bottom. Its creator tried to distribute the golden luster evenly on the surface and produce the impression of a metal jewel. Spanish ceramics masters were influenced by Mauritanian art and preferred ornamental decoration. They chose one-colour or two-colour painting — overglaze luster and underglaze cobalt. Italian masters of the Renaissance discovered all the potential of new technique. The particularity of majolica was the decorating of pottery over the unburnt white opaque tin glaze. After the glazing the paints became brilliant. The golden age of Italian majolica fell on the XVI century when all Italian regions had their own styles of painting.
A pyx decorated with the depiction of wedding preparations scene. Sicily. 330–320 B.C. The State Pushkin Museum [zoom (81k)]
The Production of Sicilian works is various: traditional albarelli, bowls, figured vessels, sauce-boats, decorative vases, jugs, flasks, salt-cellars, and warmers for hands. The Italians developed the production of tiles. The originality of Sicilian majolica can be explained by easy and natural style of painting. The main colours of palette are yellow, green and dark blue. Rich contrast colours and magnificent floral ornaments make the majolica decorative. The shining surface of ceramic ware reflects the blue dark of the sea, the warmth of south sun, the bright colour of generous Italian nature.
Every century enriched the majolica with new forms. In XVI–XVII century Sicilian workshops were closely connected with ceramic centers of Italy. The elements of ornamental Renaissance painting — grotesques, achantus, and peacock eyes — became the main themes of Sicilian art. The emblems of the customers, depictions of ladies and cavaliers were placed in the center of medallions. In the end of the XVII century the forms became more detailed; masters turned to the modeling.
Due to the development of rococo style, ceramics became more refined in the XVIII century. Dark blue decorative painting with simple ornament appeared under the influence of oriental porcelain and Delft faience. The samples of this style are the blue vases with “marble” decorations in the cartouches. Sicily masters began to create classical decorative vases with the handles in the form of snakes, satyrs, and female demifigures. They also turned to the painting of grisaille technique.
Polychrome amphoras, jugs and tiles resemble the Gjel majolica of the XVIII century. Like the decoration of Russian pottery, Sicilian ceramic painting includes architectural landscapes with emphasized line of the earth, genre scenes and variations of bird ornaments. The combination of lines and spots forms the depiction. Unlike Gjel majolica created in the style of popular prints, Sicilian painting is more volumetric. Sicilian masters created alive and expressive images with the help of some strokes of paint-brush, two or three colours and a line.
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