Ceramics that tell a story. Forms, functions and curiosities of pottery objects from the ancient world to the Middle Ages

Author: Angelica Degasperi
Paperback, illustrated, 126 pages
Isbn: 9788840400396

INDEX:

Presentation

Foreword
1. The world of children
1.1. Play: games and toys from the ancient world
1.2. Games in antiquity: infants’ toys
1.3. Children’s games: learning through play in antiquity
1.4. T he world of dolls

2. A woman’s world
2.1. Spinning, weaving and sewing, a look at women’s work

3. A man’s world
3.1. War in the Middle Ages: Greek fire and terracotta grenades

4. Celebrations and hope
4.1. Terracotta money boxes
4.2. The Nove whistles: satire and tradition

5. Pilgrims and merchants
5.1. Marks of devotion: Mediaeval pilgrim flasks
5.2. Transport and sale: pointed-spout jars in late Mediaeval Tuscany
5.3. A glimpse into a Flemish home: the prestige of Tuscan majolica

6. Scenes from everyday life
6.1. Art and daily life: ceramics revealing the artist’s cultural background
6.2. Bowls and jars: dining at the time of Giotto
6.3. Exploring Pietro Lorenzetti’s pots
6.4. Nights illuminated by lamplight

7. Potters and their workshops
7.1. Tradition and innovation: pottery production in Montelupo during the late Middle Ages
7.2. Living and surviving: potters in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance

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Angelica Degasperi was born in Merano, Italy, in 1968. In 1994 she graduated in Literature at the University of Florence, with a dissertation in Mediaeval Archaeology, which was awarded first prize by the Centro di Studi Romanobarbarici (Barbarian-Roman study centre), Tivoli, in 1995. In 2001 she completed her academic education with a Specialization in Mediaeval Archaeology at the University of Lecce. Since 1990, alongside her academic work she has performed fieldwork, principally in Italy, and Tuscany in particular, but also in other parts of the Mediterranean, such as Aigeira in Greece and in one of the most important archaeological sites in Turkey: Ephesus. From 2001 to 2006 she was awarded a research scholarship at the University of Florence; at the same time she was also Tutor for Mediaeval Archaeology for the Nettuno Consortium (2003-2008), and directed the Archaeological Workshop on Mediaeval Production at the Department of Historical and Geographical Studies, University of Florence (2006-2007).

Her area of study is based on material documentation, and in particular coins and ceramics from the Mediaeval and Renaissance periods. The results of this work have enabled her to take part in national and international conferences in Italy and abroad, and to publish many scientific papers over the years: articles in specialist magazines, essays in specific publications, news articles and reviews, and, in 2013, a book on the sculpture in the church of St. Mary, Ephesus.

Utilizing her knowledge of ceramics, in 2009 she began a study on the production of majolica objects inspired by the classical and Mediaeval worlds, which led to a number of ranges of ceramic objects designed for important Italian companies.

From 2010 to 2012, she wrote for the magazine La ceramica in italia e nel mondo, and from 2012 she has been writing for the column “History and knowledge” for the magazine Ceramica Nuova.