Majolica ceramics Spanish production

This chapter is an attempt to refine the classification of Mexican majolica ceramics from Spanish Colonial sites by using chemical data obtained by neutron activation analysis. The ceramics examined came primarily from excavations in Mexico City and from the Santa Catalina de Guale Mission site, St. Catherines Island, GA. The majolica types from these sites are both Spanish and Mexican and date from the 16th to the late 17th century. A rationale for the chemical classification of Mexico City and Puebla production is proposed. 

Neutron activation and petrographic analysis of late medieval Spanish pottery from the major Spanish production centers of Seville, Granada, Patema-Manises, Barcelona, and Talavera-Puente allowed progress to be made in uniquely characterizing these production centers (5-7). Efforts to identify different Mexican majolica productions petrographically have been unsuccessful, and an attempt at chemical characterization by directly coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy was later determined to have been flawed by problems encountered with the dissolution of the ceramic samples... 

Historical documents do, however, record dates for the construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral, the floor of which was laid in 1573, sealing underneath deposits of the first 50 years of colonial occupation and the earlier Pre-Colombian period. During the installation of support pylons at the cathedral in 1975 and 1976, 182 pits were sunk through the floor, allowing excavation and sampling of the early colonial deposits. Majolica ceramics from these excavations assigned to non-Spanish types are assumed to be from a Mexico City production. Despite the lack of more detailed information, the claim is made (2) that, as Mexico City was the most important city of New Spain for the entire 16th century, the earliest demands of the market for better dishes must have been met by local craftsmen. 

In Chapter 5, Olin and Blackman explain that differences in the chemical compositions of pottery are caused by both the use of temper and by chemical and mineralogical differences in the source of the clay. Olin and Blackman report on the continuation of their studies of majolica (a common earthenware pottery) from the Spanish Colonial period in Mexico. They used INAA as well as microscopic examination of the minerals to show that majolica produced in Spain could be distinguished from that produced in Mexico. Volcanic temper was present in the ceramics produced in Mexico, and the chemical analysis of these local ceramics suggested different production centers in Mexico. The discovery of a chemically distinct group of sherds added to the typological classifications of this pottery. 

The chemical composition of imported, European-made majolica is different from that of majolica made in Mexico (J). The difiFerences in the concentrations of the oxides of cerium, lanthanum, and thorium are eaily recognized the Spanish majolica contains approximately twice as much of each of these oxides as the Mexican majolica. The mineralogical composition, too, of the pottery products of each area is fundamentally different and can easily be identified. The ceramic types and their origins, based on archaeological arguments, can be found in Table I. 

The Assyrians who lived in Mesopotamia (today s Northern Iraq) probably discovered tin glazing during the second millennium bce. It was utilized for decorating bricks, but eventually fell into disuse. It was reinvented again in the ninth century ce and spread into Europe via the Spanish island of Majorca, after which it was later named (Majolica). Centers of majolica manufacture developed in Faenza in Italy (Faience) and in 1584 at the famous production center at Delft in the Netherlands (Delftware). Tin glazing became industrially important at the end of the nineteenth century with the growth of the ceramic sanitary ware industry. 

---