Page 56 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

and Famille Rose or Japanese Imari and Kakiemon (see map 4). Very few of these
ceramic products were able to reach the quality of Chinese porcelain. Faience and
other earthenware are low-fired products, get easily chipped or broken, are heavily
pottered, not translucent and pervious to water. Therefore, one could use them mainly
for decorative purposes but not as table ware. The Faience technique was actually an
import from Asia too. The first tin glazed ceramics reached Italy via the Islamic
Iberian Peninsula and were first called Majolica – named after the Spanish island
Mallorca from where exports to Italy were handled. In Italy the Faience production
flourished during the 16th century in the cities of Faenza (from which the name
Faience was derived) and Deruta. In Florence beautiful Faience sculptures were
modelled by the Della Robbia family – still today there is evidence that the beauty of
the tin glazed products originated in the Islamic world like the lustre painting and the
cobalt color decoration.
Map 4: European ceramic production centers of the 17th – 19th centuries

European pottery has been influenced by Asian ceramics in two ways. First,
technically, by adopting, for example, the tin glaze for producing earthenware or
terracotta Faience and also by using tilework to decorate walls and houses, as we can
still see in Spain and Portugal. Especially in Portugal where tiles (azulejos) decorate
churches, outside walls and the interior of houses, the Arabic influence cannot be
ignored. Also, the Dutch blue and white tiles make reference to this Islamic tradition
mixed with Chinese elements (plate 210). Secondly, artistically, by adopting Chinese
design, colors and symbols. The first and most obvious influence can be noted in the
Dutch Faience of Delft. By 1665 there were already more than twenty Faience
potteries in Delft, most of which produced “imitation porcelain” en masse in order to
fill the Ming-Qing transition gap left by the Chinese. The Dutch potters imitated
Chinese blue and white porcelain, such as Kraak ware (plate 209) during the second
half of the 17th century. In the Delft Faience industry, the focus of product
development was the painting. Exceptional pieces were almost always decorated with
immense care by the best painter in the factory. In addition to the copies of Chinese
originals we can find everything between Chinese design and pure European design:
From Kraak copies to pseudo-Chinese characters, or free interpretations of Chinese
landscapes to religious scenes and Dutch scenery. Later also Famille Rose, Japanese
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