65. Faenza Plate with Running Dear - Faience Early 17th

Plate from Faenza Italy painted with a running deer (early 17th century). Towards the end of the 16th century the craftsmen of Faenza developed a new decorative style with simpler and more immediate forms of expression, as a reaction to the over ornamented pictorial style. They took over the technique of producing white ware. The vessels were covered with fine, white, cold enamels, and much of the white area was left undecorated, except from central scenes painted spontaneously with only a few brush strokes. This production of objects is commonly called “Faenza white ware” (bianchi di Faenza) or “compendiario” style ware. The fame of Faenza white ware spread and grew to such a great degree that finally, from the second half of the 16th century on, the name “faïence” - a French term derived from Faenza - was used generically for all such tin-glazed products, just as it is today.