The Arts of pottery

Moroccan pottery has several artistic particularities depending on the region. The pottery in cities is always enamelled and decorated. Fes, Safi, Salé, Marrakech and Tetouan are the five main hubs of Moroccan ceramics.

The Pottery of Fes

It is in Fes where we can find the most decorated and finely worked ceramics. Each one of About fifty pottery and earthenware maalems employs four or five workers and apprentices in what can be referred to as the Moroccan capital of pottery. When the ceramic is enamelled, the background is white, the design is cobalt ore that contains nickel. By refining this ore, the blue becomes more accentuated and less greyish. The decorated works are made from a well elaborated blend. The blend contains feldspar, sand, chamotte, Agadir Clay, and Nador’s Kaolin Clay epigraphical; geometric or floral (only blue). It can also incorporate blue or brown patterns, colored with yellow or green.

In Fes, there is blue faience on white backgrounds and many styles of pottery coming from neighbouring communities. Age-old pottery has never contained more than five colours (on a white background, brown, green, yellow and blue ). The metal oxides come from the ore of the region. The blue in it is extracted from a The patterns of the Moroccan pottery of Fes remain largely linked to nature (olive kernel, almond, marjoram, jasmine) or to architectural heritage (Zellīj, checkerboards, column). Plates, bowls, vases are often ornated with vivid colours, dotted patterns traced with the index finger dipped in tar. The Zellīj and tiles of faience without enamel are the specialty of Fes.