Maiolica is tin-glazed earthenware made in Italy, particularly during the Renaissance, and painted in bright colours over an opaque white glaze. The name is thought to derive from Majorca, through which lustred Spanish pottery was shipped to Italy, and it should be distinguished from Victorian majolica, a different, lead-glazed ware with moulded decoration.
Italian maiolica reached its peak in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in centres such as Faenza, Deruta, Gubbio, Urbino and Castel Durante. Painters created plates, dishes, drug jars, ewers and display pieces decorated with grotesques, coats of arms, portraits and, in the istoriato style, elaborate scenes from history, mythology and the Bible, often based on contemporary prints. Deruta and Gubbio were renowned for gold and ruby lustre decoration. The word faience, from Faenza, came to describe similar tin-glazed wares made elsewhere in Europe. Renaissance maiolica is rare and valuable, and collectors consider attribution, quality of painting, condition and the strength of colour. Chips and glaze loss are common, and many nineteenth-century copies and revivals were made, some of high quality. Later Italian maiolica, including drug jars and decorative wares, remains popular in interiors.
