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The Handmade Process
Click HERE to see the
artists at work.
"The Centuries-old Art of Ceramics"
Historical documents record ceramic works in Deruta already in 1290,
but items from archeological excavations and the abundance of ceramic
clays in the area point to the existence of a ceramic tradition
in the area since much more ancient times. The golden age of the
deruta ceramics was the Italian Renaissance, that is the 15th and
16th centuries.
There was a large demand of refined, precious objects, exported
by the merchants of the Venice Republic to all European courts.
There were over 50 working ovens, and the signatures of famous artists
such as Giacomo Mancini ("El Frate"), and Francesco Urbini
were well known.
The craft of forging an object with the help of a wheel, where the
worked clay changed into vases and dishes, arose thousands of years
ago, appearing first in Mesopotamia and soon spreading to Turkey
and reaching Italy in the 7th century BC. After baking and drying,
painters and decorators then embellished the clay object, which
was then baked again to fix the colors and make them brilliant.
The first baking stage gives the "biscotto", the second
gives the "finito". A great experience was necessary in
the old times to place each clay object in the proper layer, at
the right distance from the fire source, and to guess the right
moment when baking should be stopped, while today there are more
technological ovens where temperatures and times can be scheduled
in advance.
Handpainted
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What is Deruta Pottery?
Deruta pottery and Deruta ceramics
The binomial Deruta pottery like the one Deruta ceramics results
to be surely indissoluble and characterized by this little village.
If official documents do establish that Deruta pottery and Deruta
ceramics has been produced since the XIIIth century, we have reasons
to believe that the beginning of such an activity has to be established
at least one century earlier. Anyway, at the end of the XIIIth
century, Deruta had produced so many ceramics and pottery that
it could pay the charges imposed to the city by Perugia in vases
instead of money. At the end of the XIVth century, Deruta had
for that reason hold a position of "regional" producer
of pottery, ceramics and majolica and was, so to say, exporting.
In fact, according to evidences, as early as in 1358 Deruta had
exported more than one thousand vases in ceramics to Assisi, homeland
of Saint Francesco, place where the need for pottery articles
for the table and ceramic souvenirs for the pilgrims come to visit
the tomb of the Saint was high.
The wealthiest period for Deruta was without any doubt the XVIth
century, when its artists took part, althought with reflection,
to the climate of artistic and cultural
revolution of the Renaissance. It is during this period that the
famous "Raffaellesco" ornament becomes popular, symbole
of the Deruta pottery production. The term "raffaellesco"
is coming from one of the big stars of the Renaissance: Raffaello.
At the beginning of the century, Raffaello painted a serie of
fresco with the decoration of a Loggia in the Vatican and some
of its patterns were "grotesque": a fantastic composition
of plants, animals and men.
Ceramists of Deruta, even if they had not seen by themselves such
fresco, knew them thanks to prints and the "grotesque"
ornaments started to be painted on their pottery. From the end
of the XVIIth century until the XIXth century Deruta suffered
from the general political and economic crisis and also from the
growing competition of other places of production, such as for
example Castelli d'Abruzzo. We have to wait until the second half
of the XIXth century to see a new birth of the interest for the
"Renaissance" majolica and therefore for the Deruta
ceramics Therefore it is absolutely necessary, for who is so fortunate
to visit Umbria, to stop in the enterprises and in the shops specialized
in that kind of production. Those who, on the contrary, can not
profit now from a holidays in this region, will find a source
locally with a large choice, in such a way that besides the fact
that they can not personally discover the secrets of the art of
modeling and cooking from the clay, they can at least admire it
directly in their own houses.
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The town of Deruta
Nestled in the rolling hills, Deruta has a view
that spans from Mount Peglia to Perugia and from the plains of the
Tiber to the distant hills. The oldest part of the city is behind
the ancient city walls. Entering one of the three gates of the ancient
defense system, one enters into the historical center. Here one
sees the civic towers and bell tower of the Church of St. Francis
standing above the spacious, rectangular piazza with its beautiful
fountain. Since the 1950s a new part of the city has developed along
the ancient Tiberinan Way. Numerous workshops and stores for producing
maiolica have been built. In fact, most of the 7,600 residents of
Deruta are involved in this work. Deruta is 15 km from Peurugia
and 150 km from Rome.
Deruta, Umbria
Firing in the Kiln
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