Tunisian Mediterranean Ceramics
Mediterranean Ceramics In Tunisia
 In Tunisia, where clay work and “modeled” pottery date back to the Neolithic Age (New Stone Age c. 8,000 - 5,500 BC), hand painted ceramics play a large role in the Tunisian lifestyle. The hand-crafting of the clay, hand-painting and ceramic glazing is still done in basically the same manner as with generations of Mediterranean artisans before, in the highest quality ceramic pieces.
Even within the kaleidoscope of Mediterranean cultures, Tunisia has a complex heritage when it comes to ceramics. Tunis's Qallaline quarter, the island of Jerba, the towns of Moknine and Sejenane and the ninth-century Aglabite site at Raqqada, near Kairouan, have all been centers of distinctive ceramics. Moknine, for example, was famed for the unglazed jars that were essential for cooling water before the days of refrigeration. The Berber women of Sejenane produced a unique line of figurines, including dolls, birds and camels, as well as pots, goblets and small jugs, all with designs in red, ochre and black on tan or buff surfaces. Jerba is the country's oldest pottery center.
Today's Mediterranean ceramics in Tunisia fall into four main categories: plates and pottery items for sale to tourists; utilitarian tableware and enameled flowerpots for the domestic Tunisian market; decorative tiles for the construction industry; and undecorated terracotta items such as flowerpots, water jugs and covers for indoor and outdoor lights.
Mediterranean Ceramic Tiles In Tunisia
Ceramic wall tiles are important, and the majority made in Nabeul are for the domestic market, where doors and windows are often lined with a border of tiles both indoors and out. Park and garden benches are often covered with tiles; decorative tile bands around the fronts of houses are common, and gardens, rooftop terraces and balconies sometimes display decorative panels of 20 to 80 individual tiles.
Additionally, Tunisians often use tiles indoors the way westerners use wallpaper. In Nabeul, even the butcher shops are decorated with multicolored tiles. A hugely oversized, colorfully glazed jar rises in the center of the city's main traffic circle, making it clear that Nabeul is all about pottery.
Ceramic Tile Wall Murals
Ceramic wall tile murals represent an individual theme and design that reflects the cultural influences Tunisia has had throughout its history. This interesting blend of Egyptian, early Greek and Roman, Turkish, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, African, and French cultural influences is apparent in the bold Mediterranean colors and unique art work found on Tunisian modern ceramic tiles.
Tunisian Pottery
Tunisian ceramic art is a very old tradition and is famous around the world. One of its great distinctive characteristics is the fact that the pottery is turned by the men and hand-fashioned by the women – especially in rural areas (Sejnane).
It appears that Ancient Egypt, Phoenecia, and Greece allowed the potters of Djerba to perfect the art of turning so that they could produce their works (jugs with pointed ends for transporting products by sea, etc.) Ceramic work, of Roman influence, and called African seal work, was made from a red clay, which was very fine and decorated in a great variety of ways: relief appliqué, intaglio stamping, floral motifs, mythological designs, etc. Later, at the dawn of the Moslem era, during the Aghlabide dynasty (649-909 AD), Baghdad saw the introduction of lead glazes and metal oxides.
In the Xth and XIth centuries, in the Fatimid and Zirid eras, ceramic works took their inspiration from figurative art, using human and animal motifs. They were so successful that this art form spread throughout the Maghreb and even as far as Andalusia and Sicily.
With the Hafsid dynasty (1159 to 1534 AD), designs returned to being abstract, geometric, and stylized, while popular colors were manganese brown and cobalt blue.
Turkish influence, which lasted from 1534 to 1704, saw the introduction of polychrome designs to Tunisian pottery, and popularized decorative architectural panels of Oriental inspiration.
Barrama Pottery
This pottery is marked by:
- its clean forms and its distinctive curve
- its red slip of lacquered gum
- its stark or primitive decoration, reminiscent of tattoos or rural woolen weaves (lines, stitches, diamond shapes, etc. . .)
Djerba Pottery
Certainly among the earliest forms in the Mediterranean Basin, the pottery produced on the island of Djerba, at Guellala, is marked by its yellow base, which is produced by antimony, and its geometrical or figurative motifs, made with copper verdigris. Djerba lamps and couscous plates, entirely coated with green varnish, are very famous.
Nabeul Pottery
The pottery of Nabeul is informed by the expertise passed on by the potters of Qualiline in Tunis, and reflected notably in the manufacture of the typical porous pots (water-jugs). Its fame also derives from the characteristic green and yellow dishes, presumed to come from both the North and the South, with their geometrical or stylized decorative designs.
Sejnane Pottery
This form of pottery is very primitive in terms of the classic processes of modeling, firing, and painting. It is remarkable for its decorative motifs, which recall Aztec sculpture.
The colors used are natural (beige, ochre-red, and black) and the motifs are either geometrical or naïve figurative. First, the motifs are drawn on to the raw clay. Then, between two separate firings, the lines are reinforced with the black juice of the mastic tree. The forms are very typical: in addition to bowls and other utilitarian receptacles, there are also statuettes of human and animal shapes.
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