PICCOLPASSO, Cipriano di Michele - b. ~1523 Castel Durante, d. 1579 Castel Durante

Italian writer and maiolica painter. He came from a patrician family of Bolognese descent that had been settled since the mid-fifteenth century in Castel Durante, which was an important centre for the manufacture of maiolica. He was a humanist by education and an amateur devotee of the arts. He was also active as a dilettante poet, land surveyor, civil and military engineer and draughtsman.

Between 1556 and 1559 he wrote Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio (“The three books of the potter’s art”), which are a storehouse of information on the techniques of maiolica from his practical workshop experience, from the choice of clays and their refinement, the shaping of the body, the composition of the glazes, the preparation of the colours. The manuscript is enriched with his drawings of typical decorative motifs.

Putting into Oven and First Firing

This drawing is an illustration in Piccolpasso’s “Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio,” a treatise on maiolica production. In the process, the object modelled from clay was subjected to several firing. The first firing (between 750 and 900° C), called biscuit firing, gives the article a considerable degree of hardness, while the subsequent second (at 900-1000° C) and third (between 600 and 800° C) firings serve to fix the glazing and colouring of the object.