Typical techniques: The Faience ceramic par excellence is the majolica, which is produced by covering the object in bisque (or rather the clay which is moulded and baked at a temperature of around 950°) with a white tin based vitreous enamel, known as majolica. This coating supports and enhances the decoration which is performed by applying metal oxide based colours with a brush. The second baking is performed at around 950° and makes the object shiny and waterproof. In the Faenza region the production of ceramics is still a manual craft essentially characterised by artistic and historical artisan workshops. The ceramics from Faenza nowadays offer a different and qualified production of hand-made objects for use as ornaments, furnishings, design articles, sculpture pieces and Contemporary Art. An oval plaque with a stem that represents the shaking of two hands, inspired by the amatorial goblets from the Renaissance period, is placed outside many of the artisan’s workshops in Faenza. The decorative styles most commonly found are inspired by ancient motifs, and a visit to the International Museum of Ceramics is a must for getting to know them. In short, we can place the Archaic style of majolica production in the medieval period, with a prevalence of green and brown colours on objects of daily use, such as bowls and mugs. In the fifteenth and early sixteenth century, the so-called Severus style, divided into “bas-relief zaffar”, “Italo-moresco”, “wrinkled leaf”, “Persian palmette” and “peacock feather”. During the Renaissance period the plates, which were by now only being used as ornaments, decorated with “beautiful women” and with the “historiated” style, showed the high level of mastery reached by the artisans from Faenza. It was with the production of the “white” majolicas in “compendiary” style, half way through the sixteenth century, which Faenza reached a period of unquestioned fame. During this period the products were characterised by an extremely white and shiny majolica, with extremely elegant shapes, ever increasingly more refined, and with sketched decorations. The eighteenth-century production was linked to European tendencies, preferences for chinoiserie and for innovation brought about by the “low fire” techniques. Above all, table objects for Noble families were made. The typical decors of the end of the 1700’s and early 1800’s were the “rovine”, the “vine”, the “acorn” and especially the “carnation” that still remains one of the most famous decorative motifs of Faenza.
The 1800’s are also represented by painting on ceramics as the imitation of painting on canvas and the revival of renaissance style china especially through the creation of “Raffaello” style vases.
An important structure that operates in the ceramics sector is the Ente Ceramica Faenza, founded in 1977 and the reference point for ceramists with the aim of promoting and enhancing the ceramics of Faenza. The association also organises various events.
Historical origins: Faenza became an important centre of ceramics back in Medieval times, with particular regards to the production of majolica, due to the nature of its clay terrain used for moulding and its geographical location that placed it at the crossroads between the cultures of the Po Valley and of Tuscany. In the sixteenth century, following the medieval period, known as archaic times, the decorative current was born, a current typical of the Renaissance period, known as the “historiated” period, due to its narrative tendencies. The production of ceramics in Faenza went through an extremely brilliant period in the second half of the XVI century with the production of “whites” of a style known as “compendiary”. The fame of these products was such that the majolica was to become known worldwide as “Faience”. At the end of the seventeenth century, the factory belonging to the Counts Ferniani became the centre of driving force of new styles and technologies, such as the “small fire” technique. Towards the end of the century new decorations appeared on table objects that revealed the shift towards neoclassicism. In the XIX century, the production of ceramics returned to the classical Faience techniques and themes of the sixteenth century.
