Author: Tiziana Manzetti

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Deruta Municipality steps in to fights fakes

Deruta - Coat of arms

Deruta Mayor has recently launched a program to stop the spread of counterfeit ceramics, inexpensive industrial products mostly made in China or Eastern Europe and marked “Made in Deruta” or even “Handmade in Deruta”.

Let us take a step back for a moment and look at the bigger picture.

Deruta pottery is facing the worst economic downturn since the 19th century, due to a major slow down in orders from the US. Ceramics are Deruta key asset.  Nowhere else in Italy there is such a concentration of pottery makers and so talented ones, too. A crisis in the pottery production cannot but involve the whole town.

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International Ceramic Festival in Montelupo – Tuscany

June 21-29, 2008
Montelupo – Italy

Tuscan ceramics - International Ceramic Festival in MontelupoMontelupo is a charming Medieval city built on a hill, a few miles east of Florence.
That was about it, until a team of archeologists discovered an old well full of kiln shards in 1973.

Tuscan ceramics - Pozzo dei Lavatoi - MontelupoThe unexpected discovery shed new light on the role of Montelupo in the history of Tuscan ceramics. It’s now a well-established fact that the town was one of the most important ceramic centers in Italy during the Renaissance and the production area of all the Florentine pottery.

The pride of such a splendid heritage revived the art of pottery making and had a positive impact on the local economic development.
Today Montelupo is a flourishing town, rich with historical buildings, talented potters and an awesome Museum of Ceramics.

To celebrate the glory of the past and today’s pottery art and craft an International Ceramic Festival is organized every year in the streets of the old historic district of Montelupo.

In a few weeks, from June 21st, performances, activities, art demos, exhibitions and young artists’ installations will definitely change the look of the town.

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Join us in Deruta for a spectacular event: The Magic of Ceramic Art

June 1-15, 2008
Deruta – Italy

Art exhibitions,Deruta - The Magic of Ceramic Art live performances, demonstrations and activities will be the ingredients of “The Magic of Ceramic Art”, a highly anticipated art & entertainment festival to be held in Deruta from June 1st.

Deruta potters, Italian and International artists, music players, scholars and visitors from all over the world will get together to celebrate the living heritage of one of the most important ceramic centers in the world.

The festival program is very exciting, indeed.

The 1st edition of Deruta Art: Biennale Exhibition of Contemporary Art will bring together 30 Umbrian and International artists, whose paintings, sculptures and visual artworks will be displayed in the former building of Maioliche Deruta, a factory which marked the revival of Deruta ceramics at the beginning of the 20th century.

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Tuscan pottery: the new Museum of Montelupo Ceramics

Tuscan ceramics - Museum of MontelupoIf you are planning a trip to Italy, make sure to include in your itinerary a visit to the city of Montelupo and its new Museum of Ceramics. You will not regret it. It will offer you a charming glimpse of the beautiful countryside just east of Florence and the thrill of being confronted with one of the most important Tuscan ceramic collections in the world.

Montelupo… you may not be familiar with the name, but you certainly are with its ceramics, which are mostly known in the US as Tuscan ceramics, Florentine majolica, Florence pottery.

As a matter of fact, from the 15th to the 17th century Montelupo was one of the most important ceramic centres in Italy and all the functional and decorative pottery ordered in Florence was made there.

The role played by Montelupo pottery in the history of Italian ceramics was re-defined only a few years ago, thanks to the unexpected discovery of an old well full of kiln shards. This is the reason why the name of this quiet, charming village is not as well known as it deserves to be and why you should not miss a visit to its Museum!

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Rosso di Montelupo: A true Italian ceramic masterpiece

Considered the masterpiece of Tuscan ceramics from Montelupo, Tuscan ceramics - Rosso di Montelupo - Museum of Montelupothe “Red from Montelupo” is a large basin richly decorated with grotesque figured and powerfully vivid colors.

It was made in 1509 in Lorenzo di Piero Sartori’s workshop, one of the most prestigious in Montelupo. The author’s signature – Lo – is elegantly painted on the back of the basin, still in excellent condition after more 500 years.

The Rosso owes its name to the red glaze used for its decoration, whose ingredients are still a mystery to date. Very likely this unusual glaze was brought to Montelupo from Iznik, in Turkey, by the Florentine merchants who traded Montelupo ceramics all over the world. Indeed, it looks very similar to a peculiar manganese oxide rich in arsenic extracted in Anatolia.

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Deruta pottery interprets Pintoricchio

March 9 – June 29, 2008
Deruta – Italy

Last week Manuela and I went to DSanta Maria dei Fossi Altarpiece (detail) - Pintoricchio (1496-98) - National Gallery of Umbriaeruta to visit a temporary exhibition held at the local Museum of Ceramics.

The exhibition, titled “Deruta pottery interprets Pintoricchio”, is one of the many events organized in Umbria to celebrate the 550th anniversary of the painter’s birth, whose influence greatly contributed to the success of Deruta ceramics during the Renaissance.

The Museum Committee has asked 29 individual ceramic artists and small factories to creatively interpret Pintoricchio’s heritage. The result is very interesting, indeed.

While highlighting the contribution of Bernardino di Betto, called Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio to Deruta pottery, the exhibition implicitly reminds the visitors of the large amount of talent which, six centuries after Pinturicchio, is still at work in this charming ancient village.

The exhibitions features very qualitative ceramic works: most of them are figurative art, a minority is abstract art. We loved the portrait paintings, in the purest style of the Renaissance pieces that built the huge reputation of Deruta ceramics. Continue reading →

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Umbria pottery: the Brocche dei Ceri and the Good Luck Shards from Gubbio

Umbria Gubbio (Umbria) - Italyis one of Italy’s smallest regions, whose secretive beauty is made of rolling hills dotted with castles and monasteries and whose charming hill town have been producing world renowned handmade ceramics since the Renaissance.

It’s really hard to resist the charm of Deruta ceramics, or Gubbio ceramics…
Born as merely functional to human life, Umbrian ceramics have evolved into a form of Art, without ever ceasing to be part of people’s life.

A symbol of the strong tie between Umbria pottery and the lively regional traditions are the Brocche dei Ceri, large ceramic pitchers which play a relevant role in the most famous “Corsa dei Ceri” or Race of the Saints.

St Ubaldo, the Patron Saint of the GubbioThis spectacular event is held in Gubbio each May 15th to honor St Ubaldo, the Patron Saint of the town.

Three teams (the Ceraioli) devoted to St Ubaldo, St Giorgio and St Antonio and clad respectively in yellow, blue and black shirts, run along the streets of Gubbio and up much of the mountain to the Church of St Ubaldo.

Each team carries a statue of their saint mounted on a wooden octagonal prism 7 meters tall and weighing about 280 kilograms, the so called Ceri (candles). Throngs of cheering supporters follow the runners. Altogether an unforgettable event!

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The Sources of Portrait in Deruta Ceramics

No ceramic lover can resist the timeless charm of a Renaissance portrait finely painted on a Deruta ceramic.

Deruta ceramics - Renaissance wall plate - Photo credit: Deruta MuseumScattered all over the world in the most prestigious museums, Deruta portrait ceramics share the same taste for proportions, the gentle forms, the harmonious colors, the fine heads and sweet gentle faces expressing utter serenity and selflessness.

During the Renaissance portraits were one of the favorite subjects of Deruta potters, less keen on painting historical scenes (istoriato) which, on the contrary, were the pride of Gubbio, Casteldurante, Faenza and Urbino.

Before going through the reasons why Deruta pottery was so different from other Umbrian ceramics, it’s necessary to take a step back and focus on the revolutionary impact of the Renaissance on the contemporary lifestyle. Continue reading →

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I won an awesome piece of antique Tuscan pottery!!!

Tuscan ceramics - Arlecchino wall plate from Montelupo I still cannot believe it’s mine. But it’s here, on MY desk, in MY studio. It’s a real, authentic Arlecchino from Montelupo and a most beautiful one. A splendid piece of Tuscan ceramics, indeed.

There is this tiny Auction House not far from my place. I like to go there and have a look when they exhibit their pieces prior to an auction. I always find some little treasures buried among old furs and very expensive antique paintings.

Last time I went there I could not believe my eyes. The Arlecchino grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let it go. I HAD to try and place a bid, although I didn’t really hope I would be able to get it. I did instead!

I love Tuscan ceramics. They are so colorful, warm, “sunny” in a way.Tuscan ceramics - Arlecchino wall plate from Montelupo - Detail
I didn’t own antique pieces, though. It’s great to start with an Arlecchino.

As it happens, I recently wrote an article on the Arlecchini from Montelupo and their role in the history of Tuscan pottery. It brought me good luck.
I will think very carefully about my next subject for an article. Who knows what might happen…

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Cantagalli Pottery and the Magic Cockerel

Last week a new friend, Anne, wrote a comment in our blog requesting some info on Cantagalli.

Cantagalli trademarkI found the post very intriguing for a number of reasons.
First of all, I wondered why Cantagalli is so popular in UK and US, while he never reached the same star status here in Italy.
Secondly, I was puzzled by the quantity of ceramic works marked Cantagalli that are available over the Internet.
Lastly, it made me want to investigate on Cantagalli’s version of Della Robbia’s terracottas.

I made some research and I noticed that there is not much info handy on the subject on the web… So I went through my books and art magazines and I found some interesting facts.

That gave me the idea to reply to Anne’s question with an article that can be useful to collector’s who love the magic cockerel but do not know much about his father: Ulisse Cantagalli.

About Ulisse Cantagalli
Ulisse Cantagalli was a superb artist and an even better businessman.

Not much of him is known before 1878 when he took over the family factory in Florence and started to produce highly decorative Italian ceramics in the Renaissance style. At the time the taste for this kind of pottery was a very hot trend in the English speaking countries.
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