Majolica is a soft earthenware ceramic, fired to the "biscuit" or unglazed stage at approximately 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. Majolica was influenced by the design of the old "Cauliflower" and "Pineapple" teapots made by Thomas Whieldon, Wedgwood and other 18th-century Staffordshire potters. Majolica was also made by Odell and Booth at Tarrytown, New York, and by the Faience Manufacturing Company at Green point, Long Island, whose mark is an incised "F. Majolica became fashionable in home and garden decorations, books and magazines articles were written.
The Majolica International Society, founded in 1989 with just 45 members, has enjoyed membership of more than a 1,000 enthusiastic individual collectors, dealers, authors and historians from across the globe.

Majolica, with its bright colors and intense surface decoration was exactly the right kind of accessory to complement the elaborate interiors of the Victorian home. Victorian Majolica is earthenware pottery made in 19th century Britain and the USA with molded surfaces and colorful clear lead glazes.

The reader will remember that the main difference in these wares is that whereas the Palissy ware is colored by a transparent glaze, Majolica ware contains the color (opaque) in the material. Wedgwood's majolica included cachepots, pitchers, candlesticks, cheese bells, umbrella stands, sardine boxes, plates in naturalistic patterns, bread trays, etc.

" Many late 19th-century majolica designs had rustic motifs with backgrounds of basketry and wooden-bound buckets decorated with molded flowers, birds, fish and animals. Early majolica like that of Herbert Minton focused on Renaissance motifs; lions, rams, mythological figures.

By1900 the production of majolica all but ceased due to the over production and changing taste. Many majolica artists looked to nature for inspiration. Urbino craftsmen took majolica pottery sophistication to the next level and adorned their pieces with grotesque caricatures and monsters. For those that couldn’t afford fine porcelain, majolica filled the bill. Select a work of art in Rustic or Majolica pottery for a dramatic accent in a living room, foyer or office.

Minton’s had for some time been making tin-glazed pottery (which is opaque, white and shiny and painted in color) somewhat in the style of Renaissance Italian majolica, which they called majolica ware, anglicizing the Italian majolica. The name, "Majolica," eludes to the glazed, earthenware pottery that was produced in Phoenixville, by the company of Griffen, Smith and Hill, in the mid-1870's. Majolica pottery gained international acclaim in the 16th century. These early majolica pottery pieces featured sphinxes, cupids, griffins, and many other fantastical creatures.

The Arsenal Pottery of Trenton, New Jersey, was making majolica as late as 1900 and exhibited Toby jugs in imitation of English Toby jugs at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago (1893). Their Etruscan majolica made from 1880 to 1890 includes compotes with dolphin supports and flower, shell, or jewel cups, a design of coral weed and seashells, and tableware with leaves and ferns. The Victorian majolica to which this site pertains was made during the latter half of the nineteenth century. For the next forty years, Victorian majolica held a position of prominence at most of the major international exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic.
If you're interested in learning more about majolica, the most recommended resource seems to be The Collector's Encyclopedia of Majolica by Marian Katz-Marks for Collector Books.
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