Books by Van van verrocchio
Il volume illustra i risultati di una pluriennale ricerca d'archivio avente per oggetto la città ... more Il volume illustra i risultati di una pluriennale ricerca d'archivio avente per oggetto la città di Chieti in età moderna, condotta sui principali fondi documentali disponibili. A partire da un approccio di tipo prosopografico si è svolta un'indagine sulla stratificazione sociale, a cominciare dalle élite dominanti, sulle istituzioni di carattere laico ed ecclesiastico, su carriere personali e fortune familiari, che ha portato alla compilazione di oltre duemila schede biografiche. Si approfondiscono quindi molteplici aspetti legati alla gestione degli uffici governativi insediati nella città capoluogo d'Abruzzo Citra, nonché quelli espressione del governo locale e quelli pertinenti al potere ecclesiastico. Si esamina inoltre con taglio monografico la folta comunità mercantile d'origine lombardo-veneta stanziatasi nella prima età moderna e si fornisce, infine, un contributo alla conoscenza dell'araldica nobiliare e borghese. Il lavoro, con carattere di assoluta novità, intende offrire elementi di riflessione per una lettura storica che attinge da fonti ricchissime, ma ancora poco utilizzate da parte degli studiosi.
The book illustrates the results of a several year archival research concerning the city of Chieti (Abruzzi) in the Modern Age, conducted on the main documentary avaiable funds. Starting from a prosopographical approach, the investigation was carried out on social stratification, starting with the ruling elites, on secular and ecclesiastical institutions, on personal careers and family fortunes, which led to the compilation of over two thousand biographical cards. Therefore, many aspects related to the management of the government offices located in Chieti, the capital of Abruzzo Citra province, as well as those expression of the local government and those pertinent to ecclesiastical power, are analyzed. The large merchant community of Lombard-Venetian origin which settled in the early Modern Age is also examined with a monographic slant and, finally, a contribution is made to the knowledge of noble and bourgeois heraldry. The work, with an absolutely novel character, intends to offer elements of reflection for a historical reading that draws from very rich sources, but still little used by scholars.
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Papers by Van van verrocchio
Predella. Journal of visual arts, 2024
Starting from a broader study concerning the city of Chieti in the early modern age, the author, ... more Starting from a broader study concerning the city of Chieti in the early modern age, the author, on the basis of archival investigations and thanks to the collection of a large number of inventories, analyzes the phenomenon of the diffusion of works of art and the birth of collecting practices among the dominant classes starting from the late sixteenth century, a topic on which general studies are currently lacking in Abruzzo. The context concerning Chieti is also compared with unpublished data concerning other important cities in Abruzzo
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Faenza, 2023
As part of a wider research on society, economy and institutions in Chieti in the modern age, the... more As part of a wider research on society, economy and institutions in Chieti in the modern age, the discovery of more than 150 inventories of goods has firstly made it possible to analyse the birth and spread of the collecting phenomenon among the ruling classes.
This essay summarizes data regarding the presence of maiolica within city palaces during the 18th century, the period for which the documentation is most numerous and most accurate.
What emerges first is the presence of productions from important Italian and European centers, corroborated by archaeological data, which confirms the involvement of the city in the major commercial traffic headed by the local merchant colony. For the regional productions, the wide success of Castelli maiolica is confirmed. In particular, the
aristocratic productions coming out of the most fashionable ateliers of the time, which are now fully entered into the collecting sphere, as shown by tiles, roundels and historiated vases exhibited alongside paintings and furnishings in representative spaces, so as the precious coffee and chocolate services kept in studios and reserved environments.
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"Teate Regia Metropolis. Società, economia e istituzioni a Chieti in età moderna", 2021
Estratto dal volume "Teate Regia Metropolis. Società, economia e istituzioni a Chieti in età mode... more Estratto dal volume "Teate Regia Metropolis. Società, economia e istituzioni a Chieti in età moderna", Roma, 2021, sezione prosopografia delle famiglie, riguardante i Valignani
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Teate Regia Metropolis, 2021
Chapter of the book "Teate Regia Metropolis. Società, economia e istituzioni a Chieti in età mode... more Chapter of the book "Teate Regia Metropolis. Società, economia e istituzioni a Chieti in età moderna" published in 2021.
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"Castelli. Quaderno del Museo delle Ceramiche", 2021
[...] L’interpretazione araldica non vuole essere quindi un semplice esercizio di erudizione ma a... more [...] L’interpretazione araldica non vuole essere quindi un semplice esercizio di erudizione ma aspira ad essere parte di un più largo e ambizioso progetto che raccolga sistematicamente e scientificamente dati per la costruzione di una vera e propria anagrafe della committenza. Queste pagine si intendano quindi come mera esemplificazione metodologica di un approccio di ricerca che appare soltanto agli inizi e che si avvale spesso dei dati provenienti dall’analisi sigillografica su documenti d’archivio. I casi qui esposti, tutti pertinenti al Seicento, seguono all’incirca un filo cronologico a partire dalla produzione compendiaria fino al repertorio istoriato [...].
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Gli «Amorosi respiri» Musica, arte e storia nella Marsica e in Abruzzo tra Cinquecento e Seicento, 2020
Profilo biografico del pittore Luca Fornaci attivo in Abruzzo nella seconda metà del Cinquecento.
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in: Medieval Masterchef, Archaeological and historical perspectives on eastern cuisine and western foodways, Jun 2017
This study attempts to explain the data gathered from a research aimed at the reconstruction of a... more This study attempts to explain the data gathered from a research aimed at the reconstruction of a series of kitchen, storage and tableware objects in use in the houses of some coastal towns of Abruzzo (central Italy) in the Early Modern period (ca. 1550-1700). It is based on the crossing analysis of the data of archaeological nature, that return a perspective mainly focused on ceramic finds, with the archival data, which instead allow us to identify all the amount of items made out of metal, glass and other material of common use in this period. This kind of research is part of a line of investigation relating to the material culture of urban societies of the modern age. In recent decades it highlights a number of works of this type based on the analysis of postmortem inventories, especially in major urban centers such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Brescia, Milan etc. often fueled by specific interest in the dissemination of works of art and early collecting. The interest of this work is however specifically focused on everyday objects distributed among kitchen, table and other domestic rooms, topic still not investigated in Abruzzo; the knowledge of the entire kit used for cooking, storing and serving the food on the table is a first and necessary step for the reconstruction of the eating habits of the analyzed urban societies
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S. Bocharov, V. François, A. Sitdikov (Eds), Glazed Pottery of the Mediterranean and Black Sea region, 10th - 18th centuries, vol. 2, Apr 2017
The Adriatic Sea has been for centuries a crossroads where ethnically, culturally and religiously... more The Adriatic Sea has been for centuries a crossroads where ethnically, culturally and religiously diff erent communities have
found an opportunity to meet, creating a dense set of relationships and cultural connections.
The study of the evolution of dietary practices and convivial habits is an interesting observatory to deepen the knowledge
on the interactions between these communities over the time. In this perspective the role of ceramics, as material well directly
related to the consumption of food, acquires great signifi cance beyond the mere value of commercial traffi c indicator.
Specifi cally the function of maiolica, pottery mainly linked to the tables, lends itself to shed light on the dietary practices and
convivial table habits, where the socio-cultural identities are subject to numerous forms of contamination. The study of the diff usion
of Italian maiolica on the east Adriatic coast is therefore a way to enhance our understanding of cultural infl uences between
East and West in the early centuries of the Modern Age.
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the spread of Italian maiolica and in particular of that produced in Castelli (Teramo,
Abruzzo) in the Eastern Adriatic in the Early Modern Age (c. 1550—1700). The recent interest of scholars on the circulation of
post-medieval ceramics in the Eastern Mediterranean has highlighted new archaeological contexts that also returned maiolica
from Castelli. The analysis of the state of knowledge fi rstly allows us to outline the contours of the phenomenon and then draw
future research developments.
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by Cecilia Moine, Margherita Ferri, Lara Sabbionesi, Koen De Groote, Giuseppe Clemente, Paola Orecchioni, Van van verrocchio, Farnaz Masoumzadeh, Luca Zambito, Antonio Alberti, Monica Baldassarri, Susanna L Blatherwick, Nikos Liaros, Anna de Vincenz, Enrico Cirelli, Gabriela Blažková, and Luigi Di Cosmo Il volume raccoglie gli Atti del Secondo Convegno Tematico organizzato dall’AIECM3 (Association p... more Il volume raccoglie gli Atti del Secondo Convegno Tematico organizzato dall’AIECM3 (Association pour l’étude des céramiques Médiévales et Moderne en Mediterranée), tenutosi dal 17 al 19 aprile del 2015, in collaborazione con il Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza e con il Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia. L’incontro si proponeva di indagare il ruolo dei manufatti ceramici all’interno delle comunità e delle sue dinamiche. I contributi qui proposti non si concentrano dunque sugli oggetti in sé, ma li seguono come un filo conduttore, per interpretare le società che li hanno prodotti ed utilizzati. I contenuti riflettono l’ampia e poliedrica partecipazione al Convegno in termini di specializzazione disciplinare, cronologica e geografica. Nel complesso gli Atti raccolgono trentasei contributi originali che coprono il periodo compreso tra la tarda antichità e il XX secolo. La prima parte è dedicata al tema della ceramica, intesa come agente nelle dinamiche sociali e diretto portatore di significato. La seconda sezione è interamente dedicata al passato recente, un argomento poco praticato in campo archeologico, ma che si è rivelato molto fecondo. Le comunità e le loro diverse scale di grandezza sono le protagoniste della terza ed ultima parte del libro.
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This paper presents the results of a research on the material culture of early modern Abruzzo (It... more This paper presents the results of a research on the material culture of early modern Abruzzo (Italy) conducted from an archival perspective. The use of archival sources can provide a key framework that integrates and expands the knowledge based on the archaeological data which are often primarily focused on the ceramic record. The objective is to arrive to a more detailed knowledge of the household objects used in the investigated period. The knowledge of the entire set of objects used for cooking, storing and serving the food on the table is set up as a first and necessary step for the reconstruction of the eating habits of the analyzed urban societies.
With these objectives the research was devoted to the systematic examination of the records of notaries active in the studied area, identifying a core group of 94 post mortem inventories of movable and immovable property.
The analyzed area is that of the lower valley of Pescara river on the Abruzzo coast, gravitating in the major urban centers of Chieti, Ortona, Penne and, to a lesser extent, Atri. The historical period considered covers the rule of the Spanish Viceroy (1503-1707), in particular from the mid-sixteenth century to the early years of the eighteenth century.
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VII Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale, 2015
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L'articolo intende porre all’attenzione degli studiosi un gruppo di ceramiche caratterizzate da r... more L'articolo intende porre all’attenzione degli studiosi un gruppo di ceramiche caratterizzate da rivestimento a vetrina nera con decorazione in oro e applicazione di pitture policrome con colori a freddo. Si tratta di manufatti databili per lo più nel pieno XVII secolo, spesso recanti gli stemmi nobiliari dei committenti, per i quali resta ancora da identificare il relativo centro di produzione.
L’effetto complessivo della decorazione in oro su fondo nero sembra trovare ispirazione in alcune produzioni ceramiche orientali a fondo nero del XVI e XVII secolo /
The paper wants to bring to the attention of scholars a group of black glazed ceramics with gold decoration and application of polychrome cold colors. These are artifacts, dated mostly in the full seventeenth century, often bearing the coats of arms of the clients for whom remains to identify its production center.
The overall effect of the decoration in gold on the black background seems to find inspiration in some Oriental productions of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries.
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Castelli. Quaderno del Museo delle Ceramiche, 9, Oct 2014
This work aims to illustrate some unpublished documents regarding the ceramics of Castelli (Teram... more This work aims to illustrate some unpublished documents regarding the ceramics of Castelli (Teramo, Abruzzi) between the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth centuries emerged as a result of archival researches conducted by the author in the State Archives of Chieti and Pescara. The text is divided into the following sections: 1. The presence of potters from Castles in Chieti between Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries; 2. The relationship with the merchants from Bergamo residents in Chieti; 3. Documents on supplies of majolica tiles for architectural use in the Seventeenth century in Chieti (Cathedral of St. Justin, Jesuit church); 4. Transfer of potters from Castelli to other centers: Chieti and Pianella (Pescara).
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Atti del XLVI Convegno Internazionale della Ceramica: Ceramica e Architettura, 2014
This article discusses the results of a research on ceramics for architectural produced by master... more This article discusses the results of a research on ceramics for architectural produced by master potters originating in Anversa degli Abruzzi (L'Aquila, Central Italy) in the Sixteenth century. Today are known examples of these ceramics tiles at Villa d'Este in Tivoli and the Palace Croce in Tivoli, at the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Collarmele (AQ) and that of St. Francesco in Franciscan Convent in Castelvecchio Subequo (AQ), and the Palazzo Ducale in Palma Campania (NA), works from the workshops of master Bernardino Gentile and Master Pietro de Aversa that archival research have allowed us to identify with the ceramist PietroTroilo, a native of Anversa degli Abruzzi.
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With the proceeding of the studies on postmedieval ceramic production of the centre of Anversa de... more With the proceeding of the studies on postmedieval ceramic production of the centre of Anversa degli Abruzzi, among a large quantity of different production just known in the period between the 16th and the 17th centuries (majolica, lead glazed wares, slip painted wares etc), a particular kind of pottery locally produced stood out. It is a ceramic with relief moulded decorations. The finding of fragments coming from dumping areas of local workshops active in this period (with relief moulded decorations perfectly similar to others just known on pieces selected in museums), authorise firs attributions to Anversa.
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The article describe the results obtained from a study of the ceramic production in Anversa degli... more The article describe the results obtained from a study of the ceramic production in Anversa degli Abruzzi, a little town inland Abruzzi near Sulmona, where the pottery was produced from the late 15th until the mid 19th century. By cross-referencing archaeological and archival data it was possible to determine local production patterns, the location of some of the workshops and their dumps, activities of the potters and how they procured the necessary raw materials (lead, tin, etc) which, we now known from archival sources, in the 16th century must have come from the towns of Lanciano, Chieti and Sulmona that had important fairs and trade markets.Moreover the author has obtained important data about the circulation of the common wares of Anversa from 16th to 18th century, which were also sold at markets of Molise and Latium.
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Books by Van van verrocchio
The book illustrates the results of a several year archival research concerning the city of Chieti (Abruzzi) in the Modern Age, conducted on the main documentary avaiable funds. Starting from a prosopographical approach, the investigation was carried out on social stratification, starting with the ruling elites, on secular and ecclesiastical institutions, on personal careers and family fortunes, which led to the compilation of over two thousand biographical cards. Therefore, many aspects related to the management of the government offices located in Chieti, the capital of Abruzzo Citra province, as well as those expression of the local government and those pertinent to ecclesiastical power, are analyzed. The large merchant community of Lombard-Venetian origin which settled in the early Modern Age is also examined with a monographic slant and, finally, a contribution is made to the knowledge of noble and bourgeois heraldry. The work, with an absolutely novel character, intends to offer elements of reflection for a historical reading that draws from very rich sources, but still little used by scholars.
Papers by Van van verrocchio
This essay summarizes data regarding the presence of maiolica within city palaces during the 18th century, the period for which the documentation is most numerous and most accurate.
What emerges first is the presence of productions from important Italian and European centers, corroborated by archaeological data, which confirms the involvement of the city in the major commercial traffic headed by the local merchant colony. For the regional productions, the wide success of Castelli maiolica is confirmed. In particular, the
aristocratic productions coming out of the most fashionable ateliers of the time, which are now fully entered into the collecting sphere, as shown by tiles, roundels and historiated vases exhibited alongside paintings and furnishings in representative spaces, so as the precious coffee and chocolate services kept in studios and reserved environments.
found an opportunity to meet, creating a dense set of relationships and cultural connections.
The study of the evolution of dietary practices and convivial habits is an interesting observatory to deepen the knowledge
on the interactions between these communities over the time. In this perspective the role of ceramics, as material well directly
related to the consumption of food, acquires great signifi cance beyond the mere value of commercial traffi c indicator.
Specifi cally the function of maiolica, pottery mainly linked to the tables, lends itself to shed light on the dietary practices and
convivial table habits, where the socio-cultural identities are subject to numerous forms of contamination. The study of the diff usion
of Italian maiolica on the east Adriatic coast is therefore a way to enhance our understanding of cultural infl uences between
East and West in the early centuries of the Modern Age.
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the spread of Italian maiolica and in particular of that produced in Castelli (Teramo,
Abruzzo) in the Eastern Adriatic in the Early Modern Age (c. 1550—1700). The recent interest of scholars on the circulation of
post-medieval ceramics in the Eastern Mediterranean has highlighted new archaeological contexts that also returned maiolica
from Castelli. The analysis of the state of knowledge fi rstly allows us to outline the contours of the phenomenon and then draw
future research developments.
With these objectives the research was devoted to the systematic examination of the records of notaries active in the studied area, identifying a core group of 94 post mortem inventories of movable and immovable property.
The analyzed area is that of the lower valley of Pescara river on the Abruzzo coast, gravitating in the major urban centers of Chieti, Ortona, Penne and, to a lesser extent, Atri. The historical period considered covers the rule of the Spanish Viceroy (1503-1707), in particular from the mid-sixteenth century to the early years of the eighteenth century.
L’effetto complessivo della decorazione in oro su fondo nero sembra trovare ispirazione in alcune produzioni ceramiche orientali a fondo nero del XVI e XVII secolo /
The paper wants to bring to the attention of scholars a group of black glazed ceramics with gold decoration and application of polychrome cold colors. These are artifacts, dated mostly in the full seventeenth century, often bearing the coats of arms of the clients for whom remains to identify its production center.
The overall effect of the decoration in gold on the black background seems to find inspiration in some Oriental productions of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries.
The book illustrates the results of a several year archival research concerning the city of Chieti (Abruzzi) in the Modern Age, conducted on the main documentary avaiable funds. Starting from a prosopographical approach, the investigation was carried out on social stratification, starting with the ruling elites, on secular and ecclesiastical institutions, on personal careers and family fortunes, which led to the compilation of over two thousand biographical cards. Therefore, many aspects related to the management of the government offices located in Chieti, the capital of Abruzzo Citra province, as well as those expression of the local government and those pertinent to ecclesiastical power, are analyzed. The large merchant community of Lombard-Venetian origin which settled in the early Modern Age is also examined with a monographic slant and, finally, a contribution is made to the knowledge of noble and bourgeois heraldry. The work, with an absolutely novel character, intends to offer elements of reflection for a historical reading that draws from very rich sources, but still little used by scholars.
This essay summarizes data regarding the presence of maiolica within city palaces during the 18th century, the period for which the documentation is most numerous and most accurate.
What emerges first is the presence of productions from important Italian and European centers, corroborated by archaeological data, which confirms the involvement of the city in the major commercial traffic headed by the local merchant colony. For the regional productions, the wide success of Castelli maiolica is confirmed. In particular, the
aristocratic productions coming out of the most fashionable ateliers of the time, which are now fully entered into the collecting sphere, as shown by tiles, roundels and historiated vases exhibited alongside paintings and furnishings in representative spaces, so as the precious coffee and chocolate services kept in studios and reserved environments.
found an opportunity to meet, creating a dense set of relationships and cultural connections.
The study of the evolution of dietary practices and convivial habits is an interesting observatory to deepen the knowledge
on the interactions between these communities over the time. In this perspective the role of ceramics, as material well directly
related to the consumption of food, acquires great signifi cance beyond the mere value of commercial traffi c indicator.
Specifi cally the function of maiolica, pottery mainly linked to the tables, lends itself to shed light on the dietary practices and
convivial table habits, where the socio-cultural identities are subject to numerous forms of contamination. The study of the diff usion
of Italian maiolica on the east Adriatic coast is therefore a way to enhance our understanding of cultural infl uences between
East and West in the early centuries of the Modern Age.
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the spread of Italian maiolica and in particular of that produced in Castelli (Teramo,
Abruzzo) in the Eastern Adriatic in the Early Modern Age (c. 1550—1700). The recent interest of scholars on the circulation of
post-medieval ceramics in the Eastern Mediterranean has highlighted new archaeological contexts that also returned maiolica
from Castelli. The analysis of the state of knowledge fi rstly allows us to outline the contours of the phenomenon and then draw
future research developments.
With these objectives the research was devoted to the systematic examination of the records of notaries active in the studied area, identifying a core group of 94 post mortem inventories of movable and immovable property.
The analyzed area is that of the lower valley of Pescara river on the Abruzzo coast, gravitating in the major urban centers of Chieti, Ortona, Penne and, to a lesser extent, Atri. The historical period considered covers the rule of the Spanish Viceroy (1503-1707), in particular from the mid-sixteenth century to the early years of the eighteenth century.
L’effetto complessivo della decorazione in oro su fondo nero sembra trovare ispirazione in alcune produzioni ceramiche orientali a fondo nero del XVI e XVII secolo /
The paper wants to bring to the attention of scholars a group of black glazed ceramics with gold decoration and application of polychrome cold colors. These are artifacts, dated mostly in the full seventeenth century, often bearing the coats of arms of the clients for whom remains to identify its production center.
The overall effect of the decoration in gold on the black background seems to find inspiration in some Oriental productions of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries.
1. quale contributo può fornire la ricerca d’archivio alla ricostruzione quanto più dettagliata dell’insieme degli oggetti da cucina, da mensa o d’altro uso presenti nelle abitazioni urbane abruzzesi della prima età moderna?
2. sono rilevabili delle diversificazioni all’interno delle differenti classi sociali?
3. è possibile individuare classi di materiali ceramici o non ceramici che rappresentino marcatori di status sociale?
4. è possibile individuare nella diffusione di specifiche classi di materiali il riflesso di più ampi fenomeni storici quali l’ascesa della borghesia urbana e lo sviluppo della “società dei consumi”?
L’intervento si propone quindi di fornire alcuni dati relativi alla circolazione e al consumo di ceramica all’interno di diversi contesti urbani abruzzesi nella prima età moderna.
A tal fine sono stati oggetto di indagine gli inventari post mortem provenienti dai protocolli dei notai attivi prevalentemente nelle città di Chieti, Ortona, Pescara, Penne ed aree limitrofe attualmente conservati presso gli Archivi di Stato di Chieti e Pescara. Come noto tale tipo di documentazione permette di ricostruire puntualmente tutta la dotazione domestica, ceramica e non ceramica (metallo, vetro, legno etc), presente all’interno di un’abitazione ed appartenente al defunto proprietario, andando così ad integrare la documentazione di tipo archeologico, spesso incentrata sulla sola componente ceramica.
Grazie all’identificazione dello status sociale di appartenenza di ogni inventario è altresì possibile analizzare l’incidenza dell’uso della ceramica all’interno dei principali gruppi sociali individuabili (nobiltà, borghesia, artigiani) in rapporto ad altre classi di materiali.
The last ten years of cross-referencing archaeological and archival researches let possible to determine local production patterns, the location of some of the workshops and their dumping areas, activities of the potters and how they procured the necessary raw materials (lead, colours, terra bianca, etc.).
Through field surveys it was possible to locate several kiln dumps with interesting ceramic contexts dating from 16th to 19th century. These contexts, together with the stratigraphic documentation found by archaeological excavations in many urban centres (Sulmona, Chieti, L’Aquila etc), reveal a great deal about the types of wares produced in Anversa in this period.
Two main groups of common wares were produced from 16th to 17th century: lead glazed cooking wares (monochrome and slip painted) and slip coated wares (monochrome and painted imitating majolica). This second group had an important interregional diffusion and was sold, out of Abruzzi, in some of more important markets of neighbouring Molise (towns of Isernia, Venafro, Campobasso, Termoli) and Latium (Rome, Capena, Palestrina and Tivoli).
The question if slipped painted wares with decoration imitating majolica (tin glazed wares) had a glazing really containing tin or not, clearly appeared from the beginning of these researches.
Recent archaeometric analysis (by Laboratorio di Analisi e Ricerche Archeometriche, Genova) have finally shown the really nature of glazed wares containing no trace of tin, painted on white siliceous coating.
Slipped pottery imitating majolica was produced from the beginning of 16th to half of 17th century. The summary table shows the great articulation in the forms: several types of plates, bowls, bassins, cups, salts, jugs, pitchers, lids and apothecary jugs were produced. Decoration used is mainly imitating contemporary majolica, expecially looking at some Central Italy production centres as Montelupo, Deruta and the Latium area (Rome etc) but also to the nearby Castelli production.
Better quality and more rare pottery such as marbleised wares and relief moulded glazed pottery were also produced in Anversa from second half of 16th to the mid of 17th century. Fragments from the dumps permitted to refer to Anversa workshops some higly decorated late Renaissance and Baroque monochrome glazed bassins and plates actually keeped in some Italian, European and American Museums.
These pieces contains some coat of arms that can be referred to important noble families of the Kingdom of Naples (such as di Capua, del Balzo and Caracciolo families) that were feudal lords of Anversa in 17th century, and the most important clients of Anversa’s workshops.
Two main groups have been identified: the “di Capua–del Balzo” service and the “Caracciolo” service – so named for their clients - can be dated from the fourth to the seventh decades of 17th century (c. 1630-1660) and referred to the workshop of Ranallo/Ranalli family.
Belong to the first group (“di Capua-del Balzo” service) four large plates keeped in Fine Arts Museum in Boston, Kestner Museum in Hannover, in private collection in Naples and another in Great Britain (actually unknown location), coming from the same moulds, and another plate with the same coat of arm is keeped in Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
To the second group (“Caracciolo” service) belong seven plates keeped in the British Museum in London, in Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Istituto Statale d’Arte “F.Palizzi” in Naples and Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia in Rome.
It is very interesting to note that the baroque decorations of the plates of “Caracciolo service” (coat of arm with rampant lion) are gilt with touches of pure gold applied with third firing tecnique (XRF analysis, Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science, British Museum). This very rich and precious gilt and relief decoration characterizes the Anversa’s lead glazed wares in fifth-sixth decades of 17th century, just in the same period when in the nearby pottery centre of Castelli (Teramo) the magister Francesco Grue (1618-1673) was applying gilt decoration on his more renowned majolica production (c. 1640-50).
"
Anversa degli Abruzzi, a small city located at a short distance from the town of Sulmona (Abruzzo, Central Italy), has been a ceramic production center since the beginning of the 16th century until the mid 20th century. Surveys conducted over the past fifteen years have allowed us to document the existence of a number of ceramic workshops and related dumping areas. Documentary evidence suggests that between the 16th and the 17th centuries, ceramics for common use, such as glazed cooking wares and table slipwares, were produced. Better quality and more rare pottery such as marbleised wares and relief moulded glazed vessels were also produced. These pieces contain coat of arms that can be referred to important noble families of the Kingdom of Naples who were the feudal lords of Anversa in the 17th century, and the most important clients of Anversa’s workshops in this period.
Among the common wares it is worth recalling the glazed cooking wares, mostly intended for local consumption, and the monochrome or painted in majolica style slipwares, pieces which were fairly widespread in the region and also in the neighboring regions (Lazio and Molise).
In the second half of the 16th century evidence shows also that majolica (tin glazed) and glazed relief decorated architectural tiles, used for some panels in Tivoli (Rome), Palma Campania (Naples) and Abruzzo (churches of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Collarmele and San Francesco in Castelvecchio Subequo, L’Aquila) were also produced. In the 18th century there was a depletion of the local production and the only documented items produced are the glazed cooking wares. The second half of the 19th century saw the reintroduction of the production of popular majolica by some manufacturers, one that will continue until the 1950s.
2. Archival Sources
Since the beginning of the research the archival material has been an essential tool to locate with certainty the ancient kilns, also allowing to retrace all the changes of ownership of the manufactories and the alternation of the different families of potters in the course of time. The data files were also crucial to the reconstruction of the genealogical trees of the main families of potters active between the 17th and 20th centuries.
3. Oral Sources
Another important research tool is the collection of oral sources relating to the conduct of workshops. In particular, the interviews of the last descendants of the Ricci and Marcelli families, families of local potters since the 17th century, have allowed us to clarify the exact operation of the kilns which still exist on site, and its working cycles, such as the extraction and preparation of the clay, the shaping on the wheel, the drying, the first and second firing, as well as the preparation of the glaze by calcination of lead and tin. The same oral sources were essential to identify the functions of certain spaces and work areas inside and outside the workshops.
4. Archaeological sources
The analysis of many archaeological contexts and materials from surface survey has allowed us to outline a rather precise pattern of the ceramics wares, especially with regard to the tipology of the artifacts, their chronology and geographical distribution. As regards the study of the workshops still existing in situ, stratigraphic reading of the kilns allowed for a first study of the construction techniques and the related typology.
5. The Kilns
Of the numerous workshops known from the sources only four kilns are preserved today whose implant can be placed between the 18th and 19th centuries. They are ceramic workshops belonged to the Ranalli, Ricci and Marcelli families. The oldest is the kiln named B 6 belonged to the Ranalli family prior to 1739 and until 1831 when it was sold to the Ricci family whose last heirs produced ceramics there until the 1950s. Currently, the furnace is preserved almost in its original state.
The kiln B13, located along Via Santa Maria delle Fornaci, founded probably in the 1830s, has always been owned by the Marcelli family and there the last potter descendants worked until the 1960s. In early 2000 this factory has undergone a first substantial renovation that has completely redefined the facade. A second ongoing restoration has unfortunately done further damages to the original workshop.
Finally, the kiln B14 seems to have been built in the mid 19th century by the potter Serafino Ricci (1813-90) and was active until the 1940s. Unfortunately, the structure appears to be seriously damaged by the collapse of the roof and the floors and by their infiltration going on for several decades.
6. Type and operation
The study of such workshops makes it possible to identify a type of vertical kiln characterized by two firing chambers and one related combustion chamber. The first chamber closest to the fire was intended for the second firing of artefacts that had already received a glaze coating. In the second chamber were instead placed the raw pieces for the first firing. An additional space above, when present, was intended for the drying of the raw pieces. In the furnaces B6 and B14 there were also a small reverberatory kiln built into the wall of the furnace next to the mouth. This little space was used for the calcination of lead and tin which from the metallic state were reduced to powder to be used for coating. The space on the ground floor of the workshops was occupied by the wheel with which the vessels were made out of raw clay and by other places for the storage and the first drying of the products. In the compartment at the first floor products were also deposited that were baked in the firing top together with the timber to be suitably dried for combustion. The firing cycle lasted around 12-14 hours and consists of the ignition phase, a slow and gradual heating, a maximum heating, when it reached the highest temperatures of around 900°C, and a gradual cooling.
In conclusion, the analyzed workshops and kilns enable us to document a developmental stage of the oldest single-chamber kilns of the Renaissance tradition with the introduction of a dual vertical firing chamber, also incorporating the small reverberatory kiln for calcination of lead and tin that was previously partly achieved.
These kilns were mainly used for glazed cooking pottery, and, to a lesser extent, for majolica. According to current knowledge on the region, we can find some substantial differences with the kilns used for majolica production in Castelli, characterized by a single firing chamber, and with the types taken from the original Castelli potters migrated in 18th and 19th centuries to other centres such as Torre de’ Passeri (Pescara) and L’Aquila.
This study want to present the data for a research aimed at reconstruction of the series of kitchen and tableware items present in the houses of some of the coastal towns of Abruzzo in the early modern period (c. 1560-1690). It is
based on the crossing of the data of archaeological nature, that return a perspective focused mainly on ceramics, with the archival data, which instead allow to identify all the amount of metallic objects, glass or other material disclosed in this period.
2 The archival data
The archival research has focused on the deeds dating from the second half of the 16th and the 17th centuries preserved in the State Archives at Chieti and Pescara. The examination of such documentation has identified a total of 79 inventories of movable and immovable properties made following the death
of the owner. These inventories provide a snapshot made inside the house as cataloging all moving objects in the home, in the presence of a notary, judge and witnesses. They mainly concern the city of Chieti, Ortona and Penne and to a lesser extent some of the smaller towns of the Valley of Pescara, the
territory that was placed between the 16th and 17th centuries in the border between the provinces of Abruzzo Citra and Ultra belonging to Kingdom of Naples.
The inventories examined were divided into four groups based on social class
they belong to the deceased: the nobles, townsmen and craftsmen, in addition to the group that collects those not identified with certainty.
Components belong to the noble patrician families of the city, especially baronial present in Chieti, Ortona and Penne. Among the citizens were
grouped components of the bourgeois class which merchants and
representatives of city and military local governments. In the group of
craftsmen are finally inclused components of ars mechanica, such as barbers, bakers, goldsmiths, and generally those who were identified with the title of "master" (magister).
The items inventoried were distinguished on the basis of a functional
classification between those for the kitchen, table and those intended for those of various household (lighting, heat etc). A second distinction is based instead on the type of materials: metals (silver, tin, pewter, brass, copper, iron), glass (crystal, glass), ceramics (majolica, pottery generic), stone
(marble, stone) and wood .
2.1. Tablewares
Noble families. The object count has revealed that first of all on the table of the noble families silverware are on average 20% of the total, which is
accompanied by a number of other metal objects, especially tin and pewter plates. It is also documented a good amount of objects in glass and crystal (glasses and pitchers). Appears instead limited the presence of pottery identified with certainty as majolica. In the specific objects in ceramics about
80% is made up of plates, which are flanked by basins and jugs mainly.
Townsmen/bourgeois families. On the table of this social group is
documented the presence of silver and other metal objects although to a lesser extent than the nobility. The most significant is the abundant presence
of majolica objects and pottery in general. Also in this case 80% of ceramic objects is constituted by dishes, but compared to the table of noble is registered a greater functional articulation with the presence of numerous other objects such as salt, bowls, saucers, cups, mugs and basins .
Craftsmen families. The presence of metal objects is very small (about 10%), with very little presence of glass objects and little majolica. About 70% of the objects can be classified as generic pottery. The dishes in this case constitute more than 80% of the ceramic objects which are flanked by a few other forms (bowls, cups, basins and jars).
2.2. Kitchen items
Metal kitchen objects, especially copper and iron, are very numerous and related to a wide range of shapes which corresponds to an equally variety of functions.
They are part of the standard equipment of the kitchen that is noble and
bourgeois basins and cauldrons intended to contain liquids (approximately 10%), pans made of copper or iron for frying (about 17-19%) with their spoons in copper (from fish, from macaroni), cheese graters (3%), mortars (2-4%)
and all the iron tools needed to cook and in the fireplace (tripod, grills, spits, pokers, shovels, tongs, chains for hang the boiler).
The metal endowment of the noble families and the bourgeois class is
therefore very similar in its composition and hovers between 60% and 70% of the total number of items for the kitchen.
The kitchens of the craftsmen are more bare, with a lower functional
articulation. In particular they appear basins and cauldrons (19%), pans (13%), mortars (10%), graters for cheese (10%) and pots (6%). In this social group metal objects do not exceed 20% of the total.
The presence of pottery in the kitchen is among the nobility that is similar between the bourgeoisie and is around 25-30%, while among artisans, this percentage is much higher, reaching 80% of the objects.
Finally, it is to note the presence of objects stone, particularly mortars, which in any case has a very low percentage (2-3%).
3 The archaeological record
The archaeological excavations and surface surveys have involved, over the last twenty years, numerous coastal towns of Abruzzo. The materials found, as regards the post-medieval phase, allow a rather precise reconstruction of the different ceramic objects for domestic use during the considered period.
As for the cooking pots are documented above, pots and little pots, pans and casseroles (deep pans) in monochrome glazed or slip painted glazed wares.
These items were intended for cooking food is in direct contact with the fire and the embers on the hob (stove). Among the other items for the preparation or storage of food are pretty spread the oil or olive jars, the little spices jars and the basins. They are rather rare certificates of colanders and warmers.
The kit for the table is much more articulated. In this phase there is a wide chronological presence of majolica, and in particular of the productions of Castelli (Teramo). Archaeological evidence shows how the majolica objects monopolize the tables of this period with many shapes and morphological variants.
Among the other objects of domestic use is noted in particular the spread of majolica pharmacy pots and little pots, of flower pots with or without glazing, chamber pots and glazed ceramic warmers.
4 Conclusions
The intersection of the archival and of the archaeological documentation has highlighted how in the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries the endowment of the kitchens and the tables in the examined area was very rich and varied.
In particular, the large use of metal objects is highlighted through archival sources, while the archaeological sites show a perspective focused mainly on pottery.
The archival data also allowed us to study such a variety of objects, which corresponds to a variety of eating habits in the three main social classes in the towns.
It follows a noble class that uses at table predominantly metallic objects and glass, it has a rich and varied supply of metal objects from the kitchen. The
middle class, which tends to imitate the habits of the nobility, using only
partially metallic objects, addressed to the table significantly to majolica. The artisans finally are limited to a predominant use of lower-quality pottery. The widespread use of majolica in the second half of the 16th century and the next
century, which in Abruzzo match the commercial success of the so-called “compendiario style” majolica from Castelli, it seems to be related to the strong rise of the middle class who, in the most important urban centers of Chieti, Ortona and Penne, identifies especially in a group of merchants, men
who are judges of the law and heads of local civic and feudal administrations and royal offices.
Archival sources.
The inventories examined come from the deeds of the following notaries:
State Archive, Chieti:
Buragna A. di Casale, 1591
Ciani G.B. di Chieti, 1598, 1602, 1610
Ciccarini G.N. di Chieti, 1572, 1575, 1576, 1589
Cicchelli di Manoppello, 1625
de Federicis G.B. di Civitaluparella, 1609, 1614, 1616, 1628
de Gratiis N. di Ortona, 1608
delle Carceri O. di Chieti, 1574, 1576, 1582,
Fiorentini N. A. di Chieti, 1560, 1561
Franchi T. sen. di Chieti, 1681, 1682, 1685
Gentile Gaspare di Pianella, 1611
Giufici D. di Chieti, 1666, 1667
Gizzi U. di Bucchianico, 1639
Lanuti G.N. di Chieti, 1588
Marano V. di Ortona, 1604, 1605, 1609
Massari G. di Ortona, 1571, 1573, 1574, 1578, 1579,
Mattucci G. di Civitella, 1677, 1690
Moscone G.C. di Carpineto, 1608
Nonna G.A. di Chieti, 1610, 1612, 1635, 1640
Orlandi C. di Villamagna, 1607, 1619
Pagliccia F.A. di Chieti, 1630
Penna G. di Rapino, 1644, 1645
Pica F.A. di Villamagna, 1604
Poccia G.A. di Chieti, 1656, 1666, 1671
Rizio N. di Ripa Teatina, 1585
Salvati S. di Chieti, 1622
Sbarra A. di Basciano, 1639
Schips M. di Castel Castagna, 1658, 1661, 1676
Sigismondi E. di Chieti, 1586, 1600
Vascellaro M. di Chieti, 1622, 1630
State Archive, Pescara:
Damiani G.B. di Penne, 1608
de Amicis Matteo di Penne, 1584
de Amicis Tebaldo di Penne, 1613
de Magistris di Penne, 1610
Rubeo C. di Penne, 1602
Umili G.M. di Penne, 1599.
With regard to archaeological sources we refer to as published in TROIANO D., VERROCCHIO V., eds, La ceramica postmedievale in Abruzzo. Materiali dallo scavo in Piazza Caporali a Castelfrentano, DAP 1, Firenze, 2002.
Credit images. The ceramic objects shown in the tables are taken from the illustrations in
TROIANO, VERROCCHIO 2002, supplemented by unpublished material.
The designs of metal objects come from the Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi, published in Venice in 1610.