MAJOL'ICA, It. pron. ma-y5'16-ka, or MAIO LICA (It., variant of Maio•ca, Sp. Mallorca, Majorca, whence the first specimens of the ware were brought). The highly decorated faience (q.v.) of the Northern Italian towns between 1500 and about 1620; as well as some South Italian wares of later date, the most important of which is that of Castelli in the Abruzzi. The most brilliant pieces of majol ica are of the seventeenth century, and their special merit is found in the decorative charac ter of the painting. The forms of the vessels are often refined, as in the jars painted with the names of medicaments and intended for the dis pensary of the great monastery or of the ducal palace; as well as for certain vases and platters of more purely deeorative character. The greater number of pieces are plates and dishes, often deep. and many of these have peculiar forms, as when a deep, -almost hemispherical bowl is sur rounded by a broad, flat marly, the whole upper side being painted in one design. The forms, however, are not more graceful nor do they in volve more elaboration of design than in other far inferior wares; the painting, on the other hand, is altogether unique in the history of decorative art. The rival potters and painters of the manufactories at Faenza, Urbino, Castel Durante (Urbaufa). and Catlibio, in the ancient Duchy of Urbino. Cafaggiolo, on the road be tween Florence and Bologna, and Deruta, near Perugia, vied with one another in the use of that admirable system of decoration which in the six teenth century prevailed throughout Italy. In this way. while the forms were kept simple and on the whole severe, the painting gruw more and more splendid in pigments and also nobler in composition, both in line and in color.
The decorations are of many types; thus in one large round dish, the whole surface will he eov ered minutely with scrollwork of that kind most commonly called arabesque, though having no Oriental character whatever, the scrolls them selves, and the animal and human forms mingled with them, being derived from ancient Roman ex amples and akin to those used by the painters of the school of Raphael in Dome. Another dish of about the same size may have but a single portrait head, perhaps of a lady, tilling the whole disk, the colors being those of nature as nearly as obtainable, and a scroll with some laudatory or amatory motto forming a part of the back ground, between the convolutions of which a grave neutral color is worked in. Other similar
plates or dishes have biblical or historical scenes treated freely and with reference in many cases to important mural paintings of the time. Again, others have the human figure nude, or nearly nude, studied from drawings or prints by artists of the same epoch. notably certain engravings of Idarcantonio Raimondi, after designs by Raphael.
The introduction, about 1520, of lustre-colors in imitation of the llispano-Moresco wares added greatly to the brilliancy of the effect. The greatest master in such lustre-painting was Gior gio Andreoli, commonly called Maestro Giorgio, who seems to have possessed the secret of the ruby lustre, which died with him. llis work is generally identified with the manufacture at flub bio and the finest pieces are dated from 1519 to 1530.
These splendid wares have been copied in modern times, especially in Italy, and with some success: but they have always obtained very high prices. Fine ancient pieces bring from one thou sand to ten thousand dollars for a single piece, the rate being governed mainly by the complex character of the design and the brilliancy of color.
The term majolica is used by modern manufac turers for glazed hard pottery intended for use in decorative architecture for garden seats and outdoor work generally. This ware is not often of much artistic merit. The forms are inferior and the colors are limited to those which will bear the greatest heat of the furnace, and which are therefore very resistant to external intim ences. In fact, for this purpose stoneware with glazes especially prepared for it is found to be a better material. See STONEWARE. Consult: Darcel, Rceueil des faIenees italienncs (Paris, 18(19) ; Drury and Fortnum. A Deseriptire Cata logue of the Maioliea, etc., in the South. Kensing ton. Museum (London, 1873) ; Btekwith. Majolica and l'agenee, Italian, Sicilian, Majorcan. His pano-ilo•esquc, and Persian (New York, 1877) ; Metier, I talienisehe jolika fliessen ( Berl in. 1880) ; Malajola, Memo•ie sto•iehr .sully maio liche di Faen;:a (Bologna, 1880) ; Argnani, Le eeramiehe e maiobiche faentine (Faenza, 1Ss'9) Molinier, La ceramiguc italicnne uti guatorziOne sii•cle (Paris, 1899) ; and the authorities re ferred to under FAIENCE. Very beautiful single examples are given in chromolithography in Laharte, Ilistoire des arts indnstriels (2.(1 ed., Paris, 1872-75), and in the Spitzer Collection. edition in six folio volumes ( Paris. 1890-92). See STONEWARE.