Montiel Majolica Face from Guatemala 08/16/24
This Majolica face comes the Montiel Pottery workshop of Antigua, Guatemala. Four generations of the Montiel family created pottery from the late 1800s into the early 20th century. I was fortunate to find this at a roadside odds and end shop for about a tenth of its value. I was attracted to the bright colors and unusual shape with its mouth open to the back of the piece. It is in great condition with the original hanging hardware. It was placed on this display mount so I could photograph it. I think it will end up hanging in the living room.
Majolica is a type of glazed pottery that has become synonymous with exquisite craftsmanship and vibrant artistry. While it is often associated with Italy, majolica is produced in various parts of the world. The name is thought to come from the medieval Italian word for Majorca, an island on the route for ships bringing Hispano-Moresque wares from Valencia to Italy. Moorish potters from Majorca are reputed to have worked in Sicily, and it has been suggested that their wares reached the Italian mainland from Caltagirone. An alternative explanation of the name is that it comes from the Spanish term obra de Málaga, denoting "[imported] wares from Málaga", or obra de mélequa, the Spanish name for lustre.
In the 15th century, the term maiolica referred solely to lustreware, including both Italian-made and Spanish imports, and tin-glaze wares were known as bianchi (whiteware). By 1875, the term was in use describing ceramics made in Italy, lustred or not, of tin-glazed earthenware. With the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, tin-glazed maiolica wares came to be produced in the Valley of Mexico as early as 1540, at first in imitation of tin-glazed pottery imported from Seville. Mexican maiolica is known famously as 'Talavera'.
Guatemalan Majolica Ware
"The ‘Mayolica Ceramic’ is a kind of glazed pottery that has been produced since the 16th century in Guatemala, especially in Antigua Guatemala (Santiago de Guatemala by those days), San Miguel Totonicapán, and in Guatemala City (the capital).
This ceramic has a natural white color, and it is manufactured from tin, other colors are added in the second firing (oven bake).
In Santiago de Guatemala (Antigua Guatemala) there were potters who preserved the prehispanic ceramic tradition, however from the seventeenth century began a great boom of local manufacturers that changed the style to make it unique to Guatemala, this trend continues to this day.
One of the characteristics of these art pieces is that they undergo double cooking. During the first one, the ceramic is cooked out at a temperature of approximately 700 degrees Celsius, each piece is given what they call "Bizcochado (biscuited)" a solid surface is to allow each piece once the ambient temperature has been reached, to be submitted to a new process of enamels based on oxides application.
Once each piece is decorated with designs and colors, they do not show the shine and brightness colors you see in the final product at this point yet, but it is until all the pieces are taken to the second cooking at a temperature of 1000º in a brick oven system of rustic technology, but quite effective for the purpose. The yellow color used to be obtained from antimony, the green color from copper oxide, and the black from the iron oxide. The white-cream tone used as a base was obtained from lead.
The genuine Majolica Ceramics from Antigua have four ways of being judged in terms of authenticity and age. The true, fine, older Majolica can be distinguished from the new replicas by their lightness, the thinness of their edges, the beautiful combinations of yellow, cobalt blue, and pale green, exclusively; and finally, the crackled glaze that covers the finesse decoration of Plates, Bowls, Jars and Incensories. Newer versions are very heavy, thick, decorated with darker colors, and most of the time, rough in comparison to the original Majolica."
Mayolica Ceramic from Antigua Guatemala, Jun 24, 2018
Spanish School Antigua Guatemala Blog
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