The color and drama of life in Italian ceramics

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): The Italian Cultural Institute will remain awash with color as an exquisite collection of ceramics from different parts of Italy decorate its off-white premises throughout June.

The contribution of Italy to this primeval art is difficult to contest. It dates back to the days of the ancient Greeks and the Romans, continuing to play an important role in modern times in both the handicraft and the industrial sectors.

But it is curvaceous objects like plates, pitchers and urns molded by a potter and later painted in styles handed down from forgotten times that tell the greatest tale about naked flesh locked in sensual embrace with clay.

At first it was just the potter and a handful of earth that in simple shapes and basic colors like green and brown, outlined abstract decorations, so typical of Roman and Gothic art popularly found in numerous Italian cathedrals. According to Dr.Carmen Ravenelli Guidotti, the entire 15th century is distinguished by equally colorful but more sophisticated decorations than previous centuries.

The influence at this time came from Byzantine art and Arab culture that had seeped into Europe through Spain. This is when the zaffiro or sapphire style became popular for its inky blue intensity and stylized decoration with the oak leaf.

The albarello style followed next with Spanish-Arabian patterns and designs inspired by those woven on oriental textiles. The peacock, a motif used much in the Middle East became a favorite in Italian ceramics as well. Meant as a reminder of the rising sun, to the Christian world it came to symbolize resurrection.

The pine cone flower pattern was introduced by Persian traders and the pottery based on blue monochrome on a white background is in imitation of porcelain, whose secret till the 18th century only the Chinese knew.

Today ceramic centers abound in Italy, each region known for its own peculiar innovations and styles. Faenza has always been a privileged location for producing pottery. It is still known as the earth of art, its significance reaching a peak during the renaissance, and its artisans and artists retaining their traditional relationship with the markets to this day.

On display are objects from Sicily where nearly everything is said to be born, from the vulgar to the eccentric. It is also said that the only constant of Sicilian culture is its ability to assimilate disparate influences, without losing its own nature.

"My family name is probably derived from the word Moor, a name for the North African Muslim who conquered Spain in the eighth century," says Alberto Di Mauro, director of the Institute who was born in Sicily, a proof of how the study of ceramics also provides profound historic lessons.

Two distinct cultures are found in Sicily, one being the dominant class whose ceramics show the influence of foreign cultures, and that of the dominated class, whose ceramics have mainly native characteristics.

The ceramics of Sciacca have always been inspired by the blue, yellow, orange and green of the Mediterranean sea, where masters of the art have passed on the craft to keep an age-old tradition alive to this day. Pieces from this area are rich in color and also in decorative motifs mostly evoking the sun, sea and the island's fertile soil.

A tall vase-like shape is a boccioni that craftsmen can modify on demand into a lamp. Albarelli is unique to Sicilian ceramics, the smaller shapes used as holders and the larger ones as vases and even umbrella holders. The plates are breathtakingly beautiful and according to Sicilian culture meant mostly to decorate the wall. Caltagirone is rich in clay and is the site where the most ancient kiln is found. Here craftsmen have come a long way since the beginning of the last millennium when the conquering Muslims first fired clay here. The technique of producing the quaint copper green is a secret known only to the cannatari (ceramists) of Caltagirone.

The ceramists of Santo Stefano di Camastra are the most eclectic, creating the most amazing shapes and the most unusual color combinations to highlight designs. The place remains one of the most fascinating centers of ceramics where the Sicilian peasantry is seen to run amok with a riot of colors.

For their part Italians are attracted to Indonesian ceramics. For the first time a meeting between members of the ceramics community of both countries was organized here recently when a delegation of 22 Italians discussed advanced ceramics technology and innovation in conventional ceramics. At the end of the trip Italian art historians were inspired to set up an archive in Bali that will tell the story of ceramics here.

Italy's Research Institute for Ceramic Technology has invited experts from the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to visit ceramics centers like Faenza in October, not just to admire each other's artistry but also to look at future prospects of cooperation in the field of sharing both technology and traditional ways of keeping alive the colorful world of ceramics.

The exhibition remains open until the end of June at the Italian Cultural Institute, Jl HOS Cokroaminoto 117, Menteng. Further inquiries at tel. 3927531.