EKPottery Vietnam

I’ve been dealing with Italian Ceramics for quite a long time: I collect them, I read about them , I sell them. When I have to write in English or talk with one of my American Customers I’m always uncertain: should I say Italian Pottery, Italian Ceramics or Italian Majolica? In order to do away with any doubt, I did some research and ran some tests. I learned quite a lot on the subject and I would love to share my findings with you.

Ceramic is the most general term. It is derived from the Greek word keramos, meaning "clay".

Historically, ceramics were prepared by shaping clay, decorating it, often glazing it and firing it at high temperatures in a kiln. However, this definition has changed. The term ceramics now refers to a diverse group of materials, including cements and glass. While all are fired at high temperatures, clay is no longer a key component of ceramics.

That is why, nowadays, the category ceramics technically includes both pottery and porcelain, which, with their standard formulas, have come to popularly represent quality grades.

 Pottery is an ornamental or useful ware shaped from moist clay and hardened by heat. The type of clay used and the temperature at which it is fired give pottery a different appearance and strength.

There are three major pottery types.

•   EarthenwareIt is also know as bisque or biscuit and it is fired at low temperatures – 1800° to 2100° Fahrenheit. It is usually reddish or white. Due to its high porosity, earthenware must usually be glazed to enable it to hold water. Earthenware pieces have been found that date back to1400-1200 BC, making this craft the oldest pottery in history.

• StonewareIt is made of a heavier clay mixture, which can be fired at much higher temperatures – 2200° to 2400° Fahrenheit. It is dense, impermeable and hard enough to resist scratching by a steel point. It’s brownish gray and it can be used both blazed and unglazed. Ideal for cooking and baking.

• PorcelainIt’s made of a specific clay, containing kaolinite, and it is fired at high temperatures – 2200° to 2500° Fahrenheit. It is hard, impermeable (even before glazing), white, translucent and resonant.

Majolica - also spelled Maiolica - is the beautiful ware prepared by tin-glazing earthenware and firing it a second time.

After the first firing, the bisque is dipped into a bath of fast drying liquid glaze. When dry, the glazed piece is ready to be hand painted. A final firing at 1690° Fahrenheit will make the glaze interact with the metal oxides used by the painter to create the deep and brilliant translucent colors specific to majolica.

This technique originates in the Middle East in the 9th century. By the 13th century majolica ware was imported into Italy through the Isle of Majorca, headquarter of the trade between Spain and Italy. The Italians called it Maiolica, erroneously thinking it was made in Majorca. They were fascinated by this new way of making ceramics and soon started to copy the process, adapting it by their own creativity and traditions. The rise of Italian majolica in Europe was fast and reached its peak of artistic quality throughout central Italy during the Renaissance - late15th and early 16th centuries.

Nowadays, in English the word Majolica is used to refer to ceramic ware in the stylistic tradition of the Italian Renaissance.

A huge step ahead.

Now I know that I collect and sell Pottery, specifically Earthenware, mostly Italian majolica.

The original question is still unanswered, though. I still do not know what I should call my beloved ware when talking to my American friends.

Having rejected the use of Earthenware, because the word is by far too technical, I tested using the term Italian majolica. Only museum staff or experts understood what I meant, and many of them figured I was taking about istoriato Renaissance ware, while I had in mind modern Italian majolica pieces.

As the next step I tested the phrase Italian pottery. The result was good, everybody knew I was talking about clay ware in the shape of an Italian bowl, an Italian vase or an Italian dinnerware set. I was not satisfied, though. Pottery is any kind of ware shaped from moist clay and hardened by heat. Pottery can be used for a $20 chicken cooking pot as well as a $2000 Italian istoriato wall plate.

How could I convey both the technical process behind Italian pottery as well as its unique quality and beauty?

I tested the term Italian ceramics and it worked perfectly. Digging into my Customers’ and friends answers I found out that it actually conveyed high quality and included both dinnerware and ornamental ware.

There is an historical explanation for this.

Although "Ceramics" is - nowadays and in purely technical language - a more general term than pottery, it has been used for more than 3000 years in the countries where this craft is born and it has evolved into an art.

Italy is one of those countries: we proudly handcrafted some of the finest ceramics in the history of this art. Italian ceramics include the Etruscan "bucchero", the Renaissance majolica and lusterware, the Baroque tiles from Sicily, the "zaffera" from central Italy, the contemporary clay art…

When we say Italian ceramics, we mean much more than items made of clay, earthenware or majolica. These two words embody artistic heritage, history, regional traditions , the creativity of a people. They touch a chord in our souls. That’s probably why so many people are passionate about Italian ceramics.

Like you and I.

Article Tags: Italian Ceramics, Italian Majolica

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tiziana is a collector of fine Italian ceramics. To read more on Italian pottery and shop some awesome pieces from her collection, please visit her at ThatsArte.com

by Nguyen Khanh Chi

An old-style tile-roofed house appeared in the middle of a large open public ground next to the headquarters of Kim Lan Commune People's Committee. Hesitation stopped me for a while before I entered the first community museum in Viet Nam.

The ceramic wares inside glass cabinets quickly caught my eyes. There were too many pieces to comprehend during a short visit.

I intended to take my eight-year-old son to nearby Bat Trang Village, which is known far and wide for pottery making. However, a talk with some other passengers on bus No 47 from Ha Noi's centre convinced me to change direction.

Kim Lan, the last stop of the bus route, is actually one of the oldest pottery villages in the land of Thang Long (the old name of Ha Noi). Kim Lan Village, several kilometres across the Red River from Bat Trang Village, was where the craft originated before it spread to Bat Trang.

Previously Kim Lan commune was located on the bank extending out to the Red River at the site of the current Kim Lan community. However, annual flooding, especially the large floods between 1970 and 1971, eroded the land. This also exposed the earthenware and ceramics that prompted the subsequent archaeological excavation.

Kim Lan doesn't enjoy as vibrant a business as Bat Trang as its residents focus on farming and pottery, while those living in the latter see pottery as their main livelihood. Thus, visitors to this craft village should not expect a bustling scene.

Nevertheless, the Kim Lan Ceramic History Museum is a real treat for those interested in learning about the history of Vietnamese pottery.

The museum opened in March last year thanks to the efforts of late Japanese archaeologist Nishimura Masanari and five elderly village craftsmen. It was granted a Bui Xuan Phai – Love for Ha Noi 2013 award in the Job category.

The 300 pieces of earthenware not only create a vivid picture of the village's past and present, they also provide a glimpse of the country's pottery-making history.

"The artefacts displayed inside the museum make a significant contribution to the study of Viet Nam's ceramic and pottery history," said Dr Bui Minh Tri of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences.

Tri said archaeological studies revealed that Kim Lan villagers were involved in the craft as early as the 9th century, although it flourished between the 13th and 14th centuries.

Pieces ranging from bowls, plates and tea sets to animal figures, tiles and bricks are numbered and described in Vietnamese, Japanese and English. The variety of techniques used, from blue and white colouring to celadon and paired white and brown glazes, offers insight into the different eras of production, which stretched from the 7th to 18th century.

Vietnamese ceramics entered the international market in the 14th century, when they were exported to the rest of Southeast Asia as well as Egypt, Iran, India and Japan.

A shipwreck off Hoi An, which retained a cargo of Vietnamese ceramics dating to the 15th century, further proves the extent of international trade at that time.

Kishimoto Kosei, a Japanese sports and culture critic, donated ceramics from the shipwreck such as underglaze-cobalt jars, bowls and boxes to the museum.

There are also goods from other Southeast Asian countries, such as a set of earthenware from Cambodia, round jars from Indonesia and vases from Malaysia.

A set of ceramic liquor bottles made in Okinawa and an intact Dutch coffee bean grinder from the 19th-20th century revealed the unique features of ceramic wares from other regions.

Head of the Research Group Nguyen Viet Hong lives about 500m away. Visiting his house with the help of the museum guards, I was amazed to find out that the artefacts lent to the museum only formed a small part of his actual collection. Sets of bronze coins hung on the walls; other objects were contained in glass cabinets and boxes.

"Based on the excavated artefacts and structures, we identified that there was ceramic production around the Bai Ham Rong archaeological site between the Ly and Tran dynasties," the 78-year-old researcher said.

"The large number of bronze coins that I gathered indicates that there were also bronze casting workshops at the site between the 16th and 17th centuries."

Many tour companies have taken tourists, mostly Japanese and Thais, to see the old man's collection after visiting the museum. He has even been asked to sell it, but he always refused.

"I learn about our history in order to leave it to my offspring. If I sold them, it would be like selling my ancestors' sweat and efforts," Hong said. — VNS