Finds

Ancient majolica from Pisa/Savona

Archaeological investigations conducted in the complex of the Palace of Baldu have revealed numerous ceramic finds relating to daily activities. Among the artefacts used as tableware, the most documented are those in archaic Majolica from Pisa and Savona. Of the former, various fragments related to closed shapes, such as pitchers, have been documented, attributable to the XIII-XIV centuries (figs. 1-2), found inside the tower and its collapse.

1
Fig. 1 - Luogosanto, Palace of Baldu: fragments of archaic majolica from Pisa (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).
2
Fig. 2 - Luogosanto, Palace of Baldu: fragments of archaic majolica from Pisa (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

The production from Savona mainly refers to open shapes, such as bowls (see fig. 3), from the second half of the fourteenth century, and was unearthed in the spaces which form the complex around the tower (fig. 4).

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Fig. 3 - Savona: archaic Majolica bowl from Savona (from VARALDO 2001a, p. 556, Table IVb).
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Fig. 4 - Luogosanto, Palace of Baldu: fragments of archaic majolica produced in Savona (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).

 

Archaic majolica is a white glazed ceramic, either monochrome or painted in green and brown, which was produced by the workshops of Central and Northern Italy from the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries.

The production from Pisa dates from between the first decades of the thirteenth century and the second half of the XV: its major spread, after Tuscany, took place in Sardinia (fig. 5).

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Fig. 5 - Cagliari, San Domenico: archaic earthenware jars from Pisa (from PORCELLA, SECCI 2010, pp. 514-516, figs. 4-7).

Majolica from Liguria only began to be produced from the second half of the fourteenth century, and continued until the sixteenth century, influenced directly by majolica from Pisa. This production spread in Sardinia (see fig. 6), in France and, maybe, in England.

6
Fig. 6 - Sassari, Largo Pazzola: fragment of the bottom of a bowl in archaic Majolica from Savona (second half of the fifteenth century), (from CAMPUS 2013, p. 149, fig. 7).

Bibliografia

  • F. BENENTE, Maiolica arcaica, in C. VARALDO (a cura di), Archeologia urbana a Savona: scavi e ricerche nel complesso monumentale del Priamàr. II.2 Palazzo della Loggia (scavi 1969-1989). I materiali, Bordighera 2001, pp. 206-228.
  • G. BERTI, Pisa. Le “maioliche arcaiche”. Secc. XIII-XV, Firenze 1997, pp. 251-271.
  • L. BICCONE, Via Sebastiano Satta, in D. ROVINA, M. FIORI (a cura di), Sassari. Archeologia urbana, Ghezzano 2013, pp. 74-85.
  • F. G. R. CAMPUS, Largo Pazzola, in D. ROVINA, M. FIORI (a cura di), Sassari. Archeologia urbana, Ghezzano 2013, pp. 143-151.
  • R. CARTA, Graffite di area tirrenica, in R. MARTORELLI, D. MUREDDU (a cura di), Archeologia urbana a Cagliari. Scavi in Vico III Lanusei (1996-1997), Cagliari 2006, pp. 237-242.
  • Enciclopedia dell’Arte Medievale. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/vetro_(Enciclopedia_dell'_Arte_Medievale)/
  • M. FIORI, Vicolo di via Duomo, in D. ROVINA, M. FIORI (a cura di), Sassari. Archeologia urbana, Ghezzano 2013, pp. 65-72.
  • M. HOBART, M. F. PORCELLA, Bacini ceramici in Sardegna, in I bacini murati medievali. Problemi e stato della ricerca. Atti. XXVI Convegno Internazionale della Ceramica (Albisola, 28-30 maggio 1993), Albisola-Firenze 1996, pp. 139-161.
  • M. F. PORCELLA, M. SECCI, La maiolica arcaica pisana a Cagliari, status quaestionis alla luce delle nuove scoperte, in Ricerca e confronti 2010. Atti. Giornate di studio di archeologia e storia dell’arte a 20 anni dall’istituzione del Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche e Storico-artistiche dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari (Cagliari, 1-5 marzo 2010), Supplemento ArcheoArte 1, pp. 497-516.
  • F. PINNA, D. CORDA, Scambi e circuiti commerciali nella Sardegna medievale: dati archeologici dal Palazzo di Baldu (Luogosanto, Olbia-Tempio), in Bulletin de la Société des sciences historiques et naturelles de la Corse, 2014, pp. 748-749.
  • C. VARALDO, Graffita arcaica tirrenica, in C. VARALDO (a cura di), Archeologia urbana a Savona: scavi e ricerche nel complesso monumentale del Priamàr. II.2 Palazzo della Loggia (scavi 1969-1989). I materiali, Bordighera 2001, pp. 167-198.
  • D. WHITEHOUSE, s.v. Maiolica, in Enciclopedia dell’Arte Medievale online. Disponibile su http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/maiolica_(Enciclopedia_dell'_Arte_Medievale)/

 

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