Ceramic tile history

Ceramics are defined as products made from inorganic materials, which are non-metallic and are treated at high temperatures at one or more stages in their production. The term “ceramics” derives from the Greek “Keramos”, meaning ‘clay’ or ‘baked earth’. This Greek word is related to an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “to burn” (originally meaning “things that are burned”).

Glazed tiles have a special place in history. They were the first products in the home to have both a functional and decorative purpose. The history of tiles began around the fourth century B.C., when tiles were first used in Egypt to decorate various types of buildings. At that time, clay tiles were sun-dried or fired and dipped in the first blue glaze, derived from copper, which was then applied to the surface.
Ancient tiles – dating from the same period and often decorated simply with alternating white and blue stripes – have been found in Mesopotamia. Other types, with more complex interlocking patterns and dating more recently, were excavated in Tunisia (ninth century A.D.), Kashan, Iran (eleventh century), and found in many Middle Eastern mosques, displaying Quranic verses on colored backgrounds (from the twelfth century onwards). In East Asia, tiles were developed early in China, Korea, and Japan.

Iznik (Turkey) was one of the main centers of Islamic glazed tile production and, from the late fourteenth century, became renowned for the quality of its products. Initially, production focused on white and blue pieces, but in the first half of the sixteenth century, the color palette of Iznik ceramics was expanded to include turquoise, deep red, green, black, and, around 1550, the distinctive shade of bright red. The most highly regarded designs were those depicting trees and flowers, especially tulips – depicted on glazed tiles, plates, and earthenware.

Origins of Italian tiles

The origins of Italian tiles date back to around the late Middle Ages, when improving the utility and design of tiles became necessary for the renovation of public and religious buildings. Italian earthenware production developed from late Roman rectangular fired tiles with marble inlays, through the Middle Ages and ‘Moorish’ designs, to early entirely handmade production with patterns created primarily for interior decoration. Like many other products, the history of Italian design is characterized by borrowing ideas from other cultures and then improving on the original products using local ingenuity and artistic creativity.

The production of ‘ingobbiata’ earthenware in Florence, Siena, Orvieto and Faenza was active in the twelfth century, but it was not until the fifteenth century that ceramic art truly reached its peak. Terracotta, which had previously been used only for decorative forms and for framing doorways, windows, and arches, was used in valuable sculptures by artists such as Antonio Pollaiolo and Donatello in Tuscany and Niccolò dell’Arca and Guido Mazzoni in Emilia. At the same time, Luca and Andrea Della Robbia elevated the use of earthenware in sculpture and decoration.

From then on and for a long time after, ceramic products from the city of Faenza, which gave the French term “faience” its name – coined in the 1600s and still used as a synonym for earthenware (also called ‘Faenza’ in Italian), held a prominent position. After decorative earthenware, Faenza became successful with stylized designs of light effects on white glaze (also known as the ‘white of Faenza’ style).
In Liguria, the oldest archaeological discoveries have provided information from early documents on the production of Albisola ceramics, dating to the final twenty-five years of the fifteenth century. The neighboring towns of Savona have a much older tradition, with recent studies showing that it dates back to the twelfth century. However, in the early sixteenth century, the production of ‘laggioni’ – glazed tiles for floors and walls in bright colors and patterns derived from Islamic and Renaissance art – began.

The Golden Age

Italian earthenware craftsmen developed a new style, adapting it to changing trends and the decorative styles of both public and private buildings. One of the first tiled floors designed by a renowned artist was installed in the church of San Petronio in Bologna in 1487. Pietro Andrea da Faenza, the designer of this work, quickly became famous for his tile designs and their application. The use of tiles then spread rapidly throughout Italy, in religious buildings, palaces, and villas.

In Central Italy, especially in Deruta, ceramic products reached their peak in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Decorative pieces with geometric patterns and shading appeared on everyday objects. Furthermore, during this period, tiled floors reached the height of perfection in production and thematic color, with some works still visible today: the floor of the church of San Francesco in Deruta, at the local ceramic museum, the Basso – Della Rovere floor in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, the Baglioni chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello, and the San Bernardino Oratorio in Perugia.

In Southern Italy, the use of glazed tiles spread during the Baroque period from the craft of Vietri sul Mare Campania and from Central Italy, especially Sicily, where large-scale depictions of mythological scenes or monumental symbolic works related to religious figures were produced. By the early nineteenth century, glazed tiles had developed from a form of floor decoration with a single tiling theme to the (proto-industrial) model/conclusion