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Fez
Ceramics
Fez
blue history
Polychrom
Shapes
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THE CERAMICS OF FEZ
.............Thanks to Léon the African, we know that
the town of Fez already had a potters' quarter
(Fakhkharin) well before the XVIth century. These potters
carried out their trade not far from the present-day  Bab Ftouh (area called Guerouaoua).
A census dating back to the XIIIth century nder the
Almohade Emir An-Nasir lists 124 work-shops operating in
this area.
How did this industry take root in the town of Fez, in
what way did it develop and what stages did it go
through? So many questions to which even the specialists
cannot give a full answer.
Let us not forget that this production is a particularly
fragile one and its existence is continually threatened.
Although those works that have survived to the present
day and which constitute the finest and most precious
collections in our museums do show a definite
technicality, this has, over the centuries, undergone
changes and transformations which were imposed by
economic and social history.
In this presentation, we will not go into the whys and
wherefores of this situation, but we will however
consider that the ceramic objects that remain at our
disposal speak for themselves, showing us colours, shapes
and motifs. These important elements help evoke the
expression of a typically Moroccan aesthetic in the
glazed pottery of Fez, although other influences
(Hispano-Mauresque, Oriental or even European) must not
be dismissed. If we base ourselves on the hypothesis that
an aesthetic is only really complete if backed up by
accomplished technicality we simplify by saying that Fez
pottery has two fundamental aspects : blues and
polychromes that we will present here before giging you
an idea, as succinct as possible, of the shapes and
motifs that distinguish this pottery.
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