SPANISH CERAMICS: BETWEEN TRADITION AND INNOVATION

Pottery appeared in the Neolithic period. The first hand-driven tables or lathes were known 2,000 years B.C., and two centuries before the Christian era, the potter’s wheel appeared, using centrifugal force for the work. This lathe is the one that still exists in Spain today. It should be noted that in some Spanish centres the lathe or hand table is still used, just as it was in prehistoric times.
The Metal Age was a revolution in the world of ceramics due to the use of copper. On the other hand, the discovery of borax as a copper flux led to the birth of glazed pottery.

As a consequence of the different occupations of the Iberian Peninsula, the aborigines incorporated the different techniques and styles that still remain, hence the great variety of current Spanish ceramics of Iberian, Greek, Phoenician, Roman and lastly, Arab origin, leaving us the word ‘alfar’.
During the eight centuries of Arab presence in Spain, ceramics were produced in both Arab and Christian territories at a high level that influenced the production of all the potteries in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe.
The ceramic processes, mainly imported from the East, showed decisive technological advances, such as the white tin glaze, the absolute mastery of firing techniques and metallic lustre.

Utilitarian wares were made: tableware, well ware, amphorae, cooking pots, ornaments and architectural complements. The highly stylised geometric and vegetal decorations were made using various techniques of Islamic origin.

In Manises (Valencia), lustre-painted ceramics are still preserved. Its manufacturing process is the same as the Arab-Moorish tradition left us. Three firings are used, the last one being the most difficult in terms of technique and mastery.

In Spain, architectural ceramics played a very important role in structural, decorative and hygienic functions. Undoubtedly, the main protagonist was the tile, which was assimilated by the Christian kingdoms and appeared in Mudejar art. In Aragon, from the 13th century onwards, they used green and black ceramics on a white background, made by means of moulds or on a potter’s wheel. Over time, its use in exteriors became more and more important. In interiors, monochrome pieces were used as floor coverings and painted tiles for decoration. In Catalonia, the potters, who were Christian, used the same colours as the Islamic potters, although the influence of trade led to the introduction of blue from the 13th century onwards. Two-coloured ceramics were exported all over Europe.

In the 15th century, the Gothic-Christian aesthetic prevailed and ceramic coffered ceilings, plinths and freehand-painted floors were also produced in Catalonia.

The discoveries of the 16th century, both in mineralogy and chemistry, led to great advances in ceramics with the introduction of glossy opaque tin glass, which would be the starting point for a new family of ceramics. Majolica was exported from Spain. The Renaissance cultural centres were Italy and Flanders, also for ceramics. The new colours and painting techniques led to its widespread use, especially among the new bourgeoisie. Valencian exports took the fashion to Italy, which in the Renaissance acquired the same levels of development as the Spanish fashion, although with its own characteristics.

The itinerant nature of Italian ceramists meant that their art crossed borders and Seville experienced this influence with Niculoso Pisano, who at the end of the 15th century introduced the ‘Italian-style’ pictorial technique to Spain, combining it with the groined technique for mass-produced tiles. During the 16th century, groined tiles were exported to every port in the Mediterranean, the European Atlantic and the Americas.

Under Austrian rule, in the 15th and early 16th centuries, golden Manises ware and Sevillian tiles were known in Antwerp. With the economic development of the region and the use of Italian innovations, ceramic production began and developed for more than 250 years. Thanks to Italian emigrants, polychromy appeared in Antwerp in the 16th century. This activity spread to Spain, Portugal and Northern Holland.

The city of Talavera de la Reina, located on the banks of the Tagus River in the province of Toledo, produced ceramics from the 16th century onwards – in parallel to Seville and Catalonia – which reflected the spirit of the new fashion affecting all the arts: the Renaissance. The abstraction of Muslim art was abandoned and bright colours were adopted to emphasise the classicism of the decorative motifs.

This pottery was very popular with the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the great religious orders, who were its regular customers, but it was also exported to Mexico, which at that time belonged to the Spanish crown, exerting a great influence on all Spanish and American pottery production. The crisis came in the 18th century with the appearance of the Alcora factory, from where they had to import masters.
The polychrome series is the most important in Talavera. Ceramic surfaces were conceived as pictorial supports that were decorated with mythological, allegorical or religious scenes copied from the engravings of the time.

Located just a few kilometres from Talavera, the town of Puente del Arzobispo was an important centre of ceramic production from the 16th century onwards. Almost all the series from Talavera are repeated in Puente del Arzobispo, so that the pieces are so difficult to classify that they are mentioned with the common attribution of Talavera – Puente del Arzobispo. From the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century, the production is characterised by the predominance of the colour green and by the abundance of birds and trees in a popular style.
Catalonia had begun its ceramic tradition with the semi-industrial production of tiles in the 15th century in Barcelona. In the 16th century, imports of Sevillian cuerda seca and arista tiles displaced their own creations. Catalan production then moved to Reus, where they adopted the Renaissance aesthetic inspired by goldsmiths’ work in relief. Shortly afterwards, polychrome tiles appeared with the adoption of Italian models, making tiles the most important aspect of ceramics. The sumptuous and decorative creations for churches, stately homes, streets and buildings were highly appreciated, and tiles covered all the walls.
Special mention should be made of the application of ceramics in construction with the arrival of modernism, thanks to architects such as Gaudí and Doménech Montaner, in a cultural movement that unites art and industry and perfectly assumes the tastes and themes of the time: the revision of styles and nature.
The technical innovations of the industrial revolution, which came to Seville from England, changed the patterns of traditional ceramic production. In 1841 Pickman set up in La Cartuja and with this factory came plaster moulds, semi-dry moulding using mechanical presses and the recovery of old techniques with new media such as dry cord or the edge. This flourishing industry did not undertake the necessary reforms until 1960.
In December 2019, UNESCO inscribed in its Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity the artisanal manufacture of pottery from Puente del Arzobispo and Talavera de la Reina Link page Intangible Cultural Heritage (Unesco) because it considers that the manufacturing, decoration and glazing procedures of this pottery, produced today, are still artisanal and identical to those practised in the 16th century.

Today, interest in ceramics and pottery is still alive despite the fact that many pottery centres have disappeared and others are on the verge of disappearing.