The Utility Pottery Industry of Bailén, Southern SpainAuthor(s): Freddie CurtisReviewed work(s):Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 3, Part 1 (Jun., 1962), pp. 486-503Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/667923 .Accessed: 23/02/2012 13:13

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The Utility Pottery Industry of Batlen, Southern Spain

FREDDIE CURTIS Orinda, California

INTRODUCTION1

ALTHOUGH there are references in the literature to modern survivals of the old Spanish ceramic industry, remarkably little detail has been pub-

lished on techniques, forms, uses, and terminologies. The purpose of this study is to provide Americanists and others with some of these basic data for com- parative purposes and to stimulate others to do further research in a particu- larly rewarding, though neglected, field of European ethnography.

Much has been written about the finer ceramics made in Spain, especially the Lustred Majolica (Foster 1960:87). Elegant and beautiful vases and tiles made on the Island of Majorca (the name Majolica derives from Majorca [Rosenthal 1954:310]) have long been displayed in museums and have been the subjects of fine studies. However, there is a dearth of scholarly works on the more simple household wares, even in Spain itself. In 1955 the only display of household pottery we could find consisted of two glass cases of Hispano-Arabe "Tipo Popular" ceramics in the Madrid Archaeological Museum. Little in- formation was given on the labels other than provenience; we were told that the Museum had no written material on this ware and no references to such material in their library. Foster (1960:87-93), who provides the most recent general discussion of Spanish pottery and its background, confirms this lack of attention to Spanish household pottery.2

The ethnographic data reported here were gathered during a trip to Europe in 1955. It was difficult to find a village still making the household wares we sought and relatively untouched by modernization. Several villages which had been suggested by the Curator of Ceramics of the Hispanic Society of America, and many of those cited by Violant y Simorra (Foster 1960:88), have appar- ently either turned to mechanization or the craft has died out. The best clue came when we met an itinerant peddler of household pots and pans. He sug- gested we go to Bailen, Jaen Province, for that was where he acquired his goods; since he covered the country, he was able to assure us that he knew it was one of the last strongholds of unmechanized pottery-making.

Unknown to us, Foster also chose Bailen for investigation in 1949-50. He has briefly summarized some of the Bailen pottery manufacturing techniques as "typical" (1960:89-90). It should be pointed out, as Foster's discussion also indicates, that there is considerable regional variation in Spain in terms of the pottery itself, the techniques of manufacture, and the economic systems of which it forms a part.

The data reported here were gathered by my husband, Hal T. Curtis, and

486

[CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 487

myself, in April 1955. The townspeople of Bailen were of unfailing good humor, and they assisted us in every way as we took photographs and gathered in- formation. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, over a period of four days. Unfortunately, there was a language barrier in some instances and occasionally a lack of definite information. The villagers naturally have had little reason to analyze the whys and wherefores of their activities, and with our limited time it was sometimes difficult to obtain exact measurements, dates, costs, pay- ments, formulae, and other desirable information.

Our reference collections of pottery fragments of various shapes and wares, and samples of pigments, glazes, and clays, have been donated to the Arizona State Museum in Tucson, where they are available for study.

THE TOWN OF BAILEN AND ITS CERAMIC INDUSTRY

Bailen lies in northeastern Andalucia, 315 kilometers due south of Madrid and just over the Sierra Morena. It is situated at the juncture of two main highways-one leading to Cordoba toward the southwest, the other to Granada, farther south. The road leading into the village from the north is over rough terrain covered with deep reddish and purple soils. Here the in- habitants grow the olive trees which are not only used for food and oil, but are important in pottery manufacture as well. In the poor, rocky soil small fields of wheat struggle for existence, and the tiny household gardens supply a few addi- tional vegetables, peppers, and herbs.

According to the inhabitants of Bailen, the making of household pottery has been going on for countless generations. It has been, and still is, the only industry in the village. In fact, the town is built on a clay base, and it is be- lieved that pottery has been made there since Roman times. There is a fine opportunity for archeological work to provide historical depth to the notes offered here.

Just on the outskirts of Bailen, the Spanish government has built one of its charming and comfortable Wayside Inns for tourists. The influx of an ever- growing number of tourists cannot fail to leave its mark on the village and its inhabitants who, until recently, were quite isolated from outside pressures. The wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers of the men working as potters have taken jobs in the Inn as cooks, waitresses, and chambermaids; and some of the men who carry luggage, man the gas pump, and do the heavy cleaning and gardening are also recruited from the village. The extra money made from this new source is stimulating the villagers to acquire modern clothes, manners, and material possessions in an effort to emulate the American and Continental tourist, as well as the more wealthy Spaniard. Some of the younger men and women of the town are not able to procure positions at the Inn; envious of the salaries and tips to be had, they are beginning to drift away to the larger cities in search of similar jobs. These new attitudes, coupled with increasing mechani- zation, foretell the eventual disintegration of the utility ware industry as it has been practiced here for so many generations.

Bailen has a population of about 1000. At the time of our visit there were

[64, 1962 488 A merican Anthropologist

30 ceramic shops of varying sizes. Foster (1960:89) reports about 40 factories in 1949-50. Most of these are in homes.

The smallest household factory we visited has one kiln and two pottery wheels, one of which is operated by the householder, the other by his brother. The young son of the owner serves his father as an apprentice. This youngster has been assisting in the factory since he was old enough to walk. There is also one hired apprentice. This small shop produces less than 100,000 vessels per season, concentrating on the smaller and less expensive pieces, such as mortars, flower pots, and small pitchers.

The largest factory in town is owned and operated by two brothers (PI. lc). There are three kilns and 12 pottery wheels, with 20 men directly em- ployed in pottery making. This factory is just beginning to use some mechani- zation. The owners are proud of their two trucks which are used in the trans- portation of fuel, in hauling clay from the clay deposits, and for transporting their finished wares. This factory turns out an estimated 300,000 pottery vessels in a season.

Between these two factories, which are the extremes in size, range the rest of the pottery manufacturing establishments of Bailen.

In the household-type factory, only the men are concerned with pottery making. The division of labor leaves the women free to care for the family, tend a small plot of vegetables, and take care of the pigs and goats. In 1949-50, how- ever, Foster observed that pottery painting was "always done by women" (1960:90); our data in 1955 indicated that the younger boys are assigned this unimportant task.

The business is handed down from father to sons and remains in the family. Most factories have been in the same family for many generations. Often two or more brothers are co-owners of the shop (fdbrica). Those young sons who show aptitude and interest are put to work in the shop when they are only a few years old. There they remain all their lives until the shop is eventually passed on to them at the death of their father. When there are but one or two young sons, they probably do not even go to school (at the time of our observation-April, 1955-there was no compulsory education in Spain).

The owner of a small factory seldom has any other source of income. The pottery manufacture and sale take up all of his time. A few men own olive orchards and realize additional income from the sale of the olives. The fruits and vegetables grown by the women are raised for home consumption only. During the rainy season (September to March) when little pottery is made, the owner travels to the outlying towns for his supply of glazes, repairs and cleans his kilns, cleans and prepares his clay-storage pits, and makes contacts for future sales. During the working season (April to September), the proprietor works in the factory all day operating a wheel, or, less often, supervising the work of his employees. The owners of the largest shop have lately added manu- facture of tiles, bricks, and water pipes in the off-season. These are all mold- made.

The owner is assisted by pottery workers in two distinct classifications: the

Pottery Industry of Spain CUTmIs] 489

young boys learning the trade, who have hired themselves out as apprentices, and the skilled workers. A boy wishing to learn pottery-making for his future livelihood hires himself out as an apprentice (aprendiz) when he is about 14 years old; in 10 years he can become a master potter (maestro).

In the beginning, the young apprentice does odd jobs around the shop such as cleaning, carrying, hauling fuel, stacking pots, and other unskilled labor, until he has familiarized himself with all the processes used in the manufacture of the wares. He also goes to the clay bank where he digs out the clay and sees to its transportation to the shop. Later, he is assigned to a specific maestro in the shop whom he serves in a variety of ways. He prepares the clay, does the wedging, hands his teacher materials, and takes away the finished products. He is also taught to apply the simple decoration that goes on some of the basins and to stack the green ware in the kiln.

When the boy is about 19 years old he begins to learn to use the pottery wheel. He is also permitted to make handles and spouts for pots and gradually the smaller and simpler complete vessels. By the time he has completed his ap- prentice period, the young man has learned how to make all the various shapes without supervision and with adequate rapidity. He may now call himself a maestro.

This division of labor in the shop is only the ideal, however; in actual prac- tice many of the young men are permitted to turn out finished vessels long be- fore they have completed their apprentice period. Nevertheless, the fiction of the separate roles is maintained, since each title carries a different pay scale and is accorded commensurate respect in the community of fellow-workers.

The proprietor is responsible for supplying the workers with all the ma- terials and tools they need. The pay to apprentices is small; they receive no more than from 12 to 15 pesetas a day for food-this at a time when the rate is about 40 pesetas to the American dollar (1955). When the apprentice has ad- vanced to the point where he can make whole vessels on his own, a record is kept of how many of what types he has made during the season. At the end of the season, all the work is tabulated and payment is made in a lump sum- after the daily food advances have been deducted. From September to April the young boys and men generally work in the olive orchards.

Maestros receive from 20 to 25 pesetas a day for food. They also work dur- ing the season on a piece-work basis, although in some of the larger factories they may be paid a straight weekly salary. It was difficult to determine an average weekly wage; there seemed to be too many variables, and the men were often loathe to tell just how much they made. However, it is clear that no one was making more than a bare existence, other than the owners of a few of the larger establishments. The household-factory owner's home is humble, sparsely furnished, with a floor of earth. There are no conveniences such as electricity, running water, or modern sanitary facilities. Clothing is ragged and of poor quality.

The average family is large, and although no one looks starved, the daily diet is monotonous, with bread, olive oil, and beans, augmented with the

490 A merican Anthropologist [64, 1962

onions, tomatoes, and peppers grown in the small family garden; in summer there is also some fresh fruit. Pigs and goats are commonly seen; the latter serve to give milk. Meat is scarce, and when obtainable veal is preferred.

COMMON POTTERY SHAPES AND THEIR USES3

The ceramic products of Bailen are for the most part limited to a few standardized forms. Foster (1960:90) notes that the basins and jars are made in a variety of sizes and shapes "because the towns to which the ware is sent are known to have their own local preferences in these matters, and an effort is made to meet these specifications." Foster also discusses the traditional terminology for designating vessel size.

The most common shape made in Bailen consists of basins (lebrillos) in six sizes (Pl.2 c, and e, center and left). These are used for all manner of household chores: washing dishes, carrying vegetables and fruit from the garden, storing small objects in the kitchen. They are made to nest and are often sold in sets of three or four. They are glazed on the inside only. The smallest holds half a liter, the largest 15 liters. The larger sizes are often called tamborenos.

The orza, a wide-mouth jar, also comes in six sizes (P1. 2e, rear). This form may have from two to four small handles near the top. These jars are the common pots used for storing water, oil, and wine, and hold from one to 10 liters; the most common size holds five liters. The orza is glazed only on the in- terior.

The cdntaro or tinaja is the water jar that is taken to the village well for bringing water home. These are unglazed. They are about 50 cm. high and 10 cm. in diameter at the base; they swell out markedly, like a vase, to about a 32 cm. diameter at the shoulder, and then narrow down to a 15 cm. diameter neck. The mouth, which has a thick rim, is about 9 cm. in diameter. There is a large, slim handle on each side of the jar which reaches from the center of the neck to the shoulders; it is about 3.8 cm. wide and from 1.3 to 1.6 cm. thick.

The botijo is a two-spouted water jar with a handle that goes across the top between the spouts. This form is used to squirt water or wine directly into the mouth. The larger spout has a clay plug inside which is perforated with five or six small holes the thickness of a pencil. The smaller spout, used to pour or drink from, tapers nearly to a point and has one small opening. The botijo comes in a variety of sizes and with varying amounts of ornamentation. The plain ones are squat with a slightly tapering base. The botijo is seen throughout Spain carried by water peddlers in the streets-especially near bull rings, at the market place, or during parades. For one peseta you can buy as much water as you can swallow without lowering the vessel or stopping the flow. As used by these street peddlers the jar is fired unglazed except for the top few inches on the outside. Smaller sizes are made, glazed, and gaudily painted to sell as souvenirs in the markets and bazaars. One uncommon variety has one side flattened, a single spout in the center, and two small handles at the side (P1. 2f). This was seen in one small factory in Bailen but never encountered elsewhere or for sale.

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 491 The flower pot

(maceta) resembles those which we commonly see in the United States in unglazed terra cotta, although occasionally those we found in the Bailen factories not only have a hole in the bottom, but an additional one in the side about 2.5 cm. from the base (P1. 2 a, d, e, right). From the poor farmer's crude adobe to the fancy iron-worked balcony on the fine city home, there is scarcely a dwelling that is without at least a few of these flower pots with their gaily blossoming geraniums. We also found in one establishment the manufacture of small, crude pot- tery mortars

(morteros) used for grinding. The average mortero is shaped some- what like a small flowerpot but is, of course, thicker throughout, and has a plain, wide, straight rim. Small flat plates (platos) are also made in Bailen, but we did not see any in process of manufacture.

MINING, STORAGE, AND PREPARATION OF CLAY

Bailen owes the possibility of its special industry to the fact that it is built on top of its raw material. All around the town at the backs of the houses and shops are the areas where clay is quarried (PI. la). In the many hundreds of years that the pottery makers have been digging, they have eaten into the sur- rounding hills both horizontally and from the top down for many feet. How- ever, the supply seems hardly dented. The clay, generally called barro, but also arcilla and

greda, is only quarried during the dry summer season. When work-

ing down a new area from the top, the first 15 to 20 cm. are not used because there is too much matured soil and decayed vegetal matter mixed with the clay. Apprentices shovel the clay out of the banks and pack it in baskets on the backs of burros.

The owner of the largest factory in town uses his two trucks to haul the raw clay to the factory compound. The owner of each factory also owns his

own cliff or cantera de barro. This generally adjoins the factory or is located nearby. These clay deposits are also inherited along with the business, although they may be bought from someone who has given up pottery manu- facture-as some have, in order to move to larger cities. There is no govern- ment tax or regulation on these clay beds, and they operate as they do by

common consent. As quarried, the pale yellowish-gray clay is in small lumps of a shaley, crumbly texture. It is brought into

the shop's open compound where it is dumped in large heaps. In each compound, often directly behind the shop area, there are several rectangular pits (pilas) lined with fired brick and clay. These pits vary in size from 6 to

10 meters in length, 4 to 5 meters in width, and 2 to 3 meters in depth. For preparation, the clay is placed in these pits and mixed with water from the well with a

metal hoe-like tool. The well is usually in the center of the com- pound and in most shops is manually operated. There are, however, several places in town that

have small motors to haul the water in buckets from the well. These motors

are detached in the slack season, only being used in the

spring while new clay is dug and operation is heavy. The thin water and clay mixture is sluiced out through a pipe about 7 to 8

[64, 1962 492 American Anthropologist

cm. in diameter onto a screen (searco), where it is strained. Actually, there are few impurities in this particular clay, and only a few small pebbles (chinas) and some loose vegetal matter need be extracted. The screened watery clay is piped into another pila where the excess water is permitted to evaporate, and where the clay is stored until ready for use. One such storage pit measured 15 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 3.5 meters deep. During the winter rains, when there is no quarrying, such storage pits are covered to keep the remaining clay from

getting too wet. The darkest corner of each workshed usually contains a large pile of damp

clay that has been brought in from the storage pits. As needed, an apprentice tears out large sections and flattens them into roughly circular masses from 1 to 1.5 meters across and 15 cm. thick. These are placed on a low-lying bench on one side of the room or are stacked beside the pile of clay. When they are ready for wedging, the boys cut out 15 cm. cubes from these circular masses, using an iron sickle. Foster (1960:90) observed a somewhat different procedure.

The most common method of wedging is rolling and kneading. The ap- prentice works the cube of clay at a low square table, which is generally covered with a flat stone slab. The clay is rocked back and forth, folded over on itself and kneaded carefully to smooth out all the small lumps and remove the air bubbles. Periodically, a chunk is broken off, thrown back upon the balance, and the whole mass reworked. It takes an experienced boy about five minutes to work a mass of clay of this size thoroughly. Nothing is added to the clay for temper. In one small factory we found a young boy working the clay with his bare feet before he began to roll and knead it. This method is seldom used except by the smaller boys, who find it easier to soften the mass with the feet before handling it.

POTTERY MANUFACTURING PROCESS

Shaping

After the mass of clay has been sufficiently worked, the apprentices form it by hand into rude, solid cones about 45 cm. high, 15 cm. diameter across the base, and 7 to 8 cm. across the top. These cones are then placed ready for the man working at the wheel (P1. If, right). (No molds are used in the manu- facture of household ware.)

The foot-wheel (rueda) is of old Arab design, unchanged through the years and very simply constructed. It consists of a vertical shaft made of wood with a small horizontal wooden disk (cabezuelo) on the top and a larger horizontal wooden disk or kick-wheel (vuelo) at the bottom. The apparatus is fastened to a table of the proper height and all is enclosed by the potter's work bench. The potter operates the wheel by kicking and braking the top surface of the vuelo with the sole of his foot.

The potter sits on a high stool (P1. le, f). He usually wears a cap or skull- cap to protect his hair from bits of flying clay. Around his waist, tucked into his trousers, he has an apron-like cloth for drying and wiping his hands. By his side are his simple tools. There is also a pan nearly filled with water which he

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 493

uses for wetting down his hands as he works. Into this pan the potter also de- posits any excess clay that accumulates between his fingers; larger pieces of clay are just thrown to one side and later gathered by the apprentices to be re- wedged. The pottery wheels are often located in a dark recess or along a rear wall. The only light that enters comes from the open doorway; windows and electric lighting are rare. To begin vessel manufacture, the rude, hand-formed cone made by the ap- prentice is placed on the upper disk (cabezuelo) of the pottery wheel. With a gyrating motion initiated with the hand at the same time as the vuelo is kicked, the workman quickly reshapes the cone into a large, solid, vase-like form with his wet hands. These secondary forms are roughly the same size as the original cone but have a wider diameter at the top than at the base and are more regular in shape (P1. le, f). Such forms may also be made by an ap- prentice and only take about

15 seconds to spin out on the wheel. When the potter is ready to make a large basin (lebrillo) he first puts on the wheel a round disk of baked clay about 30 cm. in diameter and 5 cm. in thick- ness. He usually has a stack of these baked clay "rounds" at hand (P1. le, left). On top of this he throws a mass of damp clay about 45 cm. in diameter and 5 cm. thick, upon which he sprinkles a little olive-wood ash. He sets one of the secondary vase-like forms upon the ash-sprinkled clay mass with the smaller circumference down, and starts the wheel spinning. As it spins, he forms the mass with his fingers, thumbs, and palms, pushing the mass down quickly and spreading it out wide. He measures the top diameter with a piece of stick. In making plates, a broken plate is used to give the desired inside

diameter. As he works, the potter attenuates and smooths the outside of the basin with a piece of split cane (cana). The basal excess is cut off with a metal knife blade (cuchillo). When the basin is complete, it is detached by running a piece of string across the bottom as the wheel spins. The circular marks all around such pieces, made by the fingers and cana during the spinning, are not ob- literated and show up quite clearly on all examples of this particular type of vessel. One workman claimed he could turn out 100 small pieces an hour and that five or six hundred pieces of assorted shapes would not be an unusual day's

work for a good maestro. Handles, spouts, tops, and rims for various types of jars are made sepa- rately by the older apprentices and are applied later. The handles and rims are spun out on the wheel in circular flat strips about 3.8 cm. wide and 1.5 cm. thick. This strip is then laid down, folded in half upon itself, broken at each end and cut up into the needed lengths. When the pots and handles have dried sufficiently, the young apprentices stick them together in casual fashion and pinch the adhering end of the handle to a slightly tapering keel.

Drying Ideally, the vessels should dry in the sun for 24 hours. If they dry too rapidly they may crack or break during firing. When the weather is damp, the

494 American Anthropologist [64, 1962

pots are dried in the rear of the fire box of the kiln while a small fire of olive branches burns at the opening.

The largest factory in Bailen has a large warehouse where the finished wares are stacked for slow drying (P1. lc; P1. 2e). The whole front of this shed is open to the sun. Freshly made pots are placed at the front, while the partially dried pots are moved towards the middle, and the completely dried pots are stacked at the rear.

Small factories stack their green ware out in the street alongside their work- shops. At one place which specialized in making flower pots, we found that each green pot is placed on a round baked clay base during drying to keep it from sticking to the street or to its neighboring pot. Another small factory which makes water jars places them on a narrow walk along one wall of the fabrica.

Decoration and Surface Finish

Utility wares bear only the rudest and most simple painted decoration, and many pieces bear none at all. The lebrillos are decorated with a simple wavy design which is applied by the younger apprentices with a special can having a long, slim double spout from which the paint flows slowly as the spout is rested against the vessel surface and moved along (P1. 2b). There is no special design which has to be applied; the worker makes it up as he goes along. However, long usage dictates that the design be basically either a series of double wavy lines or short pairs of vertical lines. There seems to be little difference in the designs made. Most of them are quickly and carelessly ap- plied. This ware is so cheap that it hardly pays to take more time to decorate it.

When fired, the patterned area comes out a clear yellow. Nevertheless, the color is called blanco (white), since it is made of a white powder called tierra blanca de Viso. It is bought by the kilo as loose small chunks in the town of Viso, about 60 kilometers north of Bailen. As needed, the tierra blanca is ground fine with a pestle in a pottery mortar and then dissolved in water. The proportions are approximately 100 kilograms of powder to 50 kilograms of water. (Note: all measurements are as stated by the workers and are only their guesses, since they mix the materials by rule of thumb rather than in measured lots.)

There does not seem to be any special place where the decorating is done, as it is at best only a casual job of the youngest of the apprentices. However, the dry pots are usually somewhere in the storage area when they are decorated and where they are left to dry again before the over-all glaze is applied (the decorative paint needs only about half an hour to dry).

Occasionally the larger sizes of orzas may bear a squiggly zig-zag line done in much the same manner as that described for the lebrillos. This design is ap- plied around the top just below the rim. Generally, however, all the rest of the common pieces of household ware do not have any painted design when in- tended for daily use.

The only decoration other than painting that is put on inexpensive utility ware is done on the rims of flower pots. The rim decoration is often applied with

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 495

a hand-carved wooden roller, attached to a wire holder. These rollers (or

cylinder-stamps) come in a variety of patterns which are also fairly standard- ized. While the flower pot is still damp, a young apprentice rolls the wheel around the outer surface of the rim (P1. 2a, d, left). Most of the wheels have a series of small vertical grooves which come in a number of different thicknesses. Another common form has small horizontal rectangles in double or triple rows. These designs are applied in the same cavalier manner as the painted decora- tion on the lebrillos. Since the carved spaces in the rollers are rarely cleaned, the rolled pattern is seldom clear and sharp. The rollers we saw all showed long wear; many are nicked, slivered, and out of alignment. Flower pots may also have fluted rims, especially the larger vessel sizes (P1. 2 d, center and right). The fluted rim is formed at the pottery wheel by the potter, who builds out a section at the top and then presses his thumb along it at regular intervals as the pot is slowly turned. In some factories the rim is simply built out to form a wide overhang which may project as much as 6 cm. The entire vessel is seldom glazed. Flower pots, as well as carrying and storage jars for water, wine, or oil, are not glazed because they must be porous. The household basins, however, are completely glazed on the interior. Large, wide-mouthed storage jars are also glazed on the inside and for a few inches at the top of the outside. Little care is used in applying the glaze to any of this ware; all the pieces show streaks, runny spots, finger prints, thin spots, and dark areas.

Plomo, the common name given to the lead glaze, is made of lead-sulfide powder dissolved in water. The fabrica owners get most of their supply from Linares, 15 kilometers east of Bailen. The proportions of lead powder and water vary, depending upon the depth of color desired. The solution is a deep lead-black in color paling to a bluish gray as it dries on the vessel. The color of the glaze after firing is called rojo (red), although the shades may vary from dark terra cotta to yellowish browns. At one factory where the pieces had a yellowish brown cast, the proprietor calculated that he used ap- proximately 40 kilograms of lead to 25 kilograms of water. The mixed solution is placed in a large, wide-mouthed ceramic basin set outside in the compound near the dry ware, both plain and decorated. A dipper full of plomo is poured into the jar or basin to be glazed and then swished around until the solution has covered all the surface with a thin coating. The excess is poured out quickly. Storage jars are also dipped mouth down into the solution to give a band of glaze to the top few inches on the outside. No care is taken to keep the outer band even. The lebrillos are laid out in rows to dry, but the water jars are placed mouth to mouth one on top of the other. The lead- glazed pots dry in the sun within an hour. In several factories we discovered the use of a different plomo solution. This consists of a white base powder (piedra blanca de Manises), lead powder, and water. The base powder is added to the water and smoothed with the fingers. This solution is strained into a lead powder and water mixture, and then a small quantity of red ochre solution (almagre) is added. The propor-

[64, 1962 496 American Anthropologist

tions are approximately: 24 kilograms of piedra blanca de Manses, 48 kilo- grams of plomo, and 1 kilogram of almagre. The exact proportion of water was not known, but when mixed the solution must run off the surface of the pot smoothly. If it is too thick it will leave tear-drop marks on the surface. This solution leaves a richer and deeper color when fired than the one prepared with plomo alone, but it too is called rojo. (The red ochre is obtained from Jaen, a town about 40 kilometers to the southeast, where it is mined.) For a clear glaze, lighter than just described, a solution of piedra blanca de Manises, lead powder, and water is used without the addition of the red ochre.

Three other glazes are used occasionally in decorating fancy water jars. Copper powder (cobre) is employed in the preparation of a rich green color; co- balt (azul) for a deep blue; and manganese (marr~n) for maroon. These ground minerals are mixed with the base, piedra blanca de Manises, and water, and applied with a brush. Actually, very little of these glazes are used in Bailen, except for special jars made for the owners' use or to present as gifts; none are made for the wholesale market.

Firing

Olive tree branches are the traditional fuel used in the kilns for baking the ceramic wares. As the olive trees need pruning periodically to bear larger and better fruit, the trimmings can be used. The trees are pruned once every four years, in rotation. Dead trees are also cut up for fuel. If the ceramica owner has an olive orchard, he or his apprentices or other hired help gather the olive branches and transport them on burros to his compound. This is done mainly in the early spring after the rainy season is over so they will dry without rotting. The factory owner who has no orchard of his own contracts to buy the fuel by the burro-load. It is extremely inexpensive. The stacks of green branches are piled in the compound and left to dry thoroughly (P1. lb, fore- ground). As a stack dries, another pile of branches is added to the top until the heaps are as high as the men can reach (P1. lb, background). The small leaves are left on the branches and burned along with the wood.

The average kiln (horno) is beehive in shape, made of irregular fired bricks. There are three large holes in the top and several long, narrow slits along the walls to let the smoke through. The top holes are covered loosely with large pottery sherds (barros). The floor inside the oven is made of brick and covered with a layer of clay. At 30 cm. intervals there are square holes about 12 cm. to a side which permit the heat from the firebox below to penetrate. The inside dimensions of a typical kiln are approximately 5 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high. The firebox below runs the full length and width of the oven above.

The various pottery shapes are stacked differently in the kiln. For example, the flower pots can be nested because they have no glaze. Water jars with wide mouths are piled three high-rthe first two rows mouth to mouth and the top row mouth down on the bases of the second row. Small dishes are laid out on trays and slid into the oven in layers. Large pans and the larger sizes of the

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 497

PLATE 1. Bailen pottery industry. a. cliff where clay is mined, behind factory (human figure in center gives scale); b. olive branch fuel spread for drying (foreground) and stacked, ready for kiln (background); c. staff

of the largest factory of Bailen (owner standing, center); d. itinerant peddler of Bailen utility pottery on Segovia highway; e. maestro working at pottery wheel demon- strating how a rim is formed-a stack of baked

clay "rounds" is at his left; f. another maestro working at the wheel transforming a secondary cone into a large flower pot; at the right are primary solid clay cones as made by the apprentices, in the left background are secondary cones, and in the foreground left are large flower pots just removed from the wheel.

498 American A nthropologist

g

PLATE 2. Pottery forms and decorating techniques at Bailen (a-f) and La Rambla (g). a. young apprentice applying rim design to flower pot with wooden roller; b. can with long, double spout to apply painted designs to lebrillos and orzas; c. clay cylinders (cajetas) and lebrillos stacked for drying and firing; d. flower pot rim decoration: left, roller stamped; center, wide fluting; right, fluting on everted rim; e. pottery stacked in shed for slow drying before application of decoration and glaze: center and left foreground, lebrillos; rear, orzas stacked mouth to mouth; right, tall flower pots on baked clay "rounds"; f. single-spouted botijo; g. contrasting pottery from La Rambla,: left and center, floreros; right, gallo.

[64, 1962

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 499

lebrillos are stacked between hollow clay cylinders (cajetas) to a height of from 30 to 38 cm. (P1. 2c). Each cylinder has three sets of five holes spaced vertically and evenly around its total circumference. Small, cigar-shaped clay plugs

(pistones), about 6 cm. long and 2 cm. in diameter, are placed in the holes as needed, and the inverted pans rest upon them. This leaves a space between the pans for the heat to circulate evenly. Another type of stacking device is shaped like a three-pointed star, with each ray about 2 cm. long and just over 1.5 cm. thick. At the end of each ray is a short vertical projection about 1.5 cm. long. The vessels are set on these small, legged stands to keep them off the floor of the oven and to keep the pieces separated. During the season, it takes about a week to make enough pieces to fill the oven. When the kiln is full, and it is nearly always filled completely before firing, the doorway is sealed with clay. After the

kiln's firebox has been filled with olive branches and olive wood, it is lit. It takes about two hours to get hot enough to reach the desired firing temperature of about 950? C. The pieces are then baked for eight hours. The fire is permitted to die and the pottery is left to cool in the kiln for an addi- tional 24 hours. The clay door is then broken open and the pieces removed. However, should the color of the pottery not be dark enough, the fire is relit, the doorway is clayed shut again, and the kiln retired for a few more hours. Long experience in judging the color of the pottery is needed in making the de- cision that retiring is necessary, and for how long. Those in charge of such operations said that the times given above were estimates. Because it was only the first week in April when we arrived in Bailen, the season had hardly begun. Several of the factories had started to make pottery, but still in small

quantities, and none of the kilns observed was lit. Stacking had begun and there appeared to be signs that within a few weeks the ovens would be working in full swing. None of the larger fabricas had their full work force as yet, so it was difficult to judge the relative times required to make cer- tain quantities to fill the ovens. In fact, the scarcity of completed pieces made it impossible to acquire many desired samples, and some of the material col- lected for future study was taken from the heaps of broken ware that accu- mulate near all the kilns.

MERCHANDISING Periodically, warehousemen come into Bailen to buy the pottery. There are from 10 to 12 such dealers and they pay the proprietors for all they buy at

the time of purchase. We once saw a load of purchased pots and pans stacked high between layers of straw on an ancient, dilapidated, wooden-sided truck to a height of over 4.5 meters. As the wooden sides of the truck are less than 2 meters high, the balance of the required height is maintained by string nets, tied at intervals to long poles. Considering the condition of the truck and the wretchedness of the average Spanish highway, it was amazing to us that any dealer would dare transport breakable ware in such a fashion. Yet any truck has advantages over burros in hauling so many pieces over the great distances they must travel.

500 A merican Anthropologist [64, 1962

We discovered that much of the pottery from Bailen goes to Madrid, Seville, and throughout the Andalucian area to such cites as Cordoba, Granada, and others. In each city, the wholesalers give the pieces out on consignment to itinerant peddlers who spend from 12 to 15 months at a time on the road. The peddlers concentrate on selling the household wares to farmers' wives in the country and to villagers in small, isolated towns. The wholesalers also sell large lots of pottery to merchants in the town and village markets.

Before we came to Bailen, we encountered an itinerant peddler on the road to Segovia (Pl. ld). He was walking slowly along the road beside his packed burro, which was loaded down with a confusing mixture of lebrillos in various sizes, cantaros, and a few macetas. As we watched, he stopped at a small white- washed stucco farmhouse. (With the approach of Easter, all the countryside shone with fresh, new coats of whitewash which the women were seen applying to their homes.) The black-clad farmer's wife came out to bargain with the peddler. She was interested in a nest of lebrillos and the bargaining was intense. We waited in order to determine the final selling price. She finally bought a set of four basins ranging in size from 25 to 50 cm. in diameter, paying 74 pesetas or nearly two dollars-not as inexpensive as we had been led to believe.

The peddler had untied the pots and pans from the burro where they were lashed together inside a twig, wire, and string sling tied with rope, protected here and there from contact with each other by loose straw. As he retied his merchandise we struck up a conversation. He was a fairly young man, who wore ragged patched trousers, stout shoes, a shabby jacket over a sweater, and a black beret (PI. ld). He told us that his home was in Bailen, where the pot- tery he was selling was made. Apparently he was his own middleman and ar- ranged to have his wares sent as he needed them to the various focal points from which he covered the provinces. At that time he had made his head- quarters in Segovia and had his major supply there. Shipments to cities nearer his home were made in rented trucks. From Segovia he and his two assistants, each with a burro, cover the immediate area, returning to Segovia to replenish their stock. When all has been sold and the area has been covered, he returns to Bailen, visits with his family, and arranges for a new shipment to some other large city from which he will start afresh. He stated that he spent many months on each trip and was seldom home.

It was not until we reached Bailen and spoke with the workmen and owners of shops in the village that we discovered that the bulk of the ware was actually sold through warehousemen. As stated previously, the middlemen pay for their merchandise when they buy it, but the peddlers they hire do not pay the middlemen until they have sold their entire consignment. For this reason, the warehousemen are often not as well off as those ceramica owners who have a fair-sized factory.

NOTES ON A CONTRASTING CERAMIC INDUSTRY

The village of La Rambla is located about 30 kilometers due south of Cordoba, which is a little over 100 kilometers southwest of Bailen. The ceramic

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 501 industry of

La Rambla is much more specialized than that at Bailen. For ex- ample, many of the factories only form and fire the pottery; the decorating is done elsewhere in the town. The clay source is right in and around the town as at Bailen, but the local clay at La Rambla is of finer quality and produces a distinctive pottery. The jars and vases here contrast with those made at Bailen in that they produce a sharper and clearer ring when they are smartly tapped.

The most common shapes made at La Rambla are water jars with looped handle and two spouts-locally called borone or pipo; water pitchers (jarros), which may have a poorly-fitting cover; fancy vases called floreros (PI. 2g, center and left); water jars with fluted tops (jarras); and a specialty of the town, the chicken-shaped jar (gallo) (P1. 2g, right). The largest factory in town had a clay reservoir in which the clay to be used was kept very wet. To prepare it for use, it was poured out into a round, deep basin and mixed mechanically by four sets of wooden slats. Dry pow- dered clay was added to give the proper consistency. The smaller factories have almost all disappeared. Although working con- ditions are in no way superior to those described in Bailen, consolidation has begun and the tendency is rapidly becoming one of larger and fewer ceramicas -all with varying degrees of mechanization. However, many of the traditional tools and techniques are still the same: the wheel, the string cutter, cane smoother, etc. The kilns are larger than those we had seen at Bailen. Although olive wood is still used here as fuel, straw is also used, and often the two are mixed. The apprentice system is still functioning and the division of labor be- tween the apprentices and maestros is much the same as at Bailen. The maestros form the bodies of the various water jars and fancy vases, and the apprentices make the handles, spouts, tops, and rims, and add them to the basic shapes. We were told that a maestro was paid 40 pesetas for completing 100 borones, but that information seems questionable because that would be a dollar for 100 pieces--a good worker could make at least 300 or more pieces a day. When one considers that a policeman in Spain earns the equivalent of 10 dollars a month, and a taxi driver in Madrid averages the same, it is difficult to believe that a potter in a small village could earn over three dollars a day. When we visited La Rambla in April, 1955, we found no factory that was making the more simple types of utility ware that we saw at Bailen. Nearly all the ceramic ware at La Rambla is painted or decorated by incising. The fancy, painted designs are said to have been in use in this area for the past 300 years at least.

All pottery to be painted is first fired without any glaze (bisque firing) for nine hours. After this firing the pieces are painted by specially trained young girls. The fine texture of the fired ware makes it possible for the pieces to absorb the water colors quickly and hold them cleanly and sharply. The water colors are all commercially prepared and purchased by the factory owners in

502 A merican A nthropologist [64, 1962

large amounts. The young girls sit in a row in a small room and paint freehand the typical flowers, trees, unicorns, and other fantastic animals. Unpainted pottery usually has a very thin plomo wash to give it a fine glaze, but this glaze cracks, chips, and peels easily.

The pottery which is only incised has simple lines made by applying the sharpened point of a piece of cane to the jar or pot as it is turned on the wheel. Some pottery is decorated with applied knobs, vertical lines, and other decorations of raised clay. Upstairs in a storeroom of one of the larger fac- tories, a very old woman sat in a dark, dank, and cold room and applied these clay designs with lightning fingers. She had a cloth tube with a metal spout, very like that used in putting frosting on cakes, and squeezed the liquid clay out in a series of rapid motions as she decorated the neck of a gallo with cross- hatching to simulate feathers (P1. 2g, right).

CONCLUSIONS

American anthropologists have long wanted information on the household pottery of southern and western Spain, for it is from these areas that most post-Conquest influence on indigenous American pottery came, as a result of the Spanish conquest (Foster 1960: 231). We hope the data presented here will help provide some useful information and also indicate what can still be ob- tained. But we feel strongly that studies of Spanish household pottery indus- tries have importance for other reasons as well.

American anthropologists who are interested in theoretical problems con- cerning handicrafts or small industries would find Spain a rewarding place to work for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that we found the people we interviewed to be friendly, helpful, and interested (see also Foster 1960).

Anthropologists whose interests are directed toward processes of cultural change derived from ceramics will be able to approach problems from two angles: first, inferences of time depth from .systems functioning at the pres- ent day. If we have interpreted our data correctly, there exists in Spain today a series of pottery-making centers which probably represent, in part, stages or varying degrees of evolution away from a common "neolithic" pottery-making tradition; to what extent and why this change may be multi-directional is a broad area of research in itself.

Second, evolution of the traditional ceramic industry can be approached with direct evidence of time depth. Not only can historic, written sources yield data, but archeological work is also bound to be fruitful. It should not be surprising to find several thousand years of ceramic history recorded in the trash dumps of many traditional pottery-making centers.

All aspects of Spanish culture have been strongly influenced by events in the differing cultural traditions of the European and Arab worlds. There is a fine opportunity for studies of such problems as cultural syncretism in ceramic technology and in the cultural system surrounding it. Comparisons of proc- esses abstracted from American Indian-Spanish cultural syncretism, in turn,

CURTIS] Pottery Industry of Spain 503 would perhaps make possible some significant generalizations in that field of acculturation. Again, in the field of historical reconstruction, regional variations and trait distribution patterns are simpler in the ceramics of Spain than in most parts of the New World of comparable size and complexity (Foster 1960). In Spain, therefore, they can perhaps be more easily related to the already known and dated population movements and cultural influences. Surely this ad- vantage could help Americanists test and sharpen their methodological tools and theoretical concepts.

The Spanish ceramic industries are also a good field for the analysis of social organization and the economics of single-industry towns. Given the different historical background, abstractions derived from comparisons of differences and similarities with similar towns in the Americas would have theoretical importance. It is our general conclusion from a survey of the literature that'the recent cultures of Spain, as well as of other European countries, are a rich ethno- graphic and

archeological field that has been too seldom exploited by problem- oriented American anthropologists who, traditionally, and sometimes perhaps unnecessarily, prefer to work on problems in more exotic contexts.

NOTES 1 We owe the stimulus for this study to the late Dr. George Brainerd, whose advice in the gathering of the data and reporting of them is gratefully acknowledged. The manuscript was also read, in an earlier version, by the following: Keith A. Dixon, George M. Foster, and Roger C. Owen. Their help in providing information and suggesting revisions is deeply appreciated. Photo- graphs were selected and prepared by

Keith A. Dixon and Charles E. Rozaire. 2 Foster (1960: 87-93) presents an excellent general discussion of Spanish pottery and its traditional and historical background; he also lists several important references which have not been available to us (pp. 88, 103-see especially titles under Arenas, Cortes y Vazquez, Garcia Fern.ndez, and Violant y Simorra). A recent publication discussing Iberian ceramic styles and foreign influence in late pre-Christian times is Bosch-Gimpera 1958. 3 After visiting Bailen, we crossed the Strait of

Gibralter to visit Tangier and Tetuan, at the tip of northwest Africa. In the market place at Tetuan we saw a display of household ware. The most predominant forms were: orzas, or wide-mouthed storage jars which are practically identical to those made at Bailen; basins or lebrillos with a series of six small fluted areas on opposite sides of the rim; and small flower pots the same size and shape as those seen in Bailen. The color of the pottery is terra cotta; the workmanship is casual; and none of the ware was decorated with colored glaze. Unfortunately, it was impossible to get any detailed information; the attempt to get photographs met with threats of bodily harm. However, the similarity of Tetuan pottery to that

of Bailen is most interesting and deserves further study.

REFERENCES CITED BoscC-GIPMPEA, P.

1958

Todavla el problema de

la ceramica Iberica. Cuadernos del Instituto de Historia, SerieAntropo16gicaNo. 2 , Universi dad Nacional Aut6no ma de M 6xico. Me xico, D.F.

FOSTER, GEORGE M. 1960

Culture and conquest: America's Spanish heritage. Viking Fund Publications in

Anthropology 27. New York. ROSENTHAL, ERNST

1954 Pottery

and ceramics.

Baltimore, Penguin Books.