Page 176 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 176
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
more into the role of raw materials provider (silkworm eggs and cocoons)
and reducing its function as yarn suppliers, despite the quality that had
been very much appreciated on the Italian market during the Middle Ages
(Bulgarelli Lukacs 2000, 523–9).
3.2 Ceramics
Ceramics production also seemed to be divided into two different forms of
organisation: proto-industry and handicraft work. Pottery was produced
in several settlements, but only one of them was able to expand its produ-
cts out of Abruzzo, namely Castelli, which became the most famous pro-
duction centre. It was a small settlement perched on the rocky soil and the
hazardous roads of the Gran Sasso massif, and owed its fortune to the pre-
sence of clay, water and timber, as well as the ability of its population to pro-
duce ceramics – in all likelihood by a community of Benedictine monks.
Thanks to its pottery, Castelli reached fame in and outside the Kingdom of
Naples from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th centu-
ry. The finest specimens can now be admired in the museums of Europe,
and the names of some potters are well known, as are their styles (see Pic-
ture 7.1). The organisation of work into masters and workers appears typical
of the workshop, a place of production and marketing of the finished pro-
duct (Pierucci 2005, 20–7; Ead. 2007, 251–67). The most important work-
shops managed distribution directly in the big cities where they also fou-
nd the necessary raw materials (white clay, lead and tin). Sometimes, when
market success was particularly remarkable, as in the case of the de Pom-
peo family, the production stages were divided up, and the semi-finished
clay phase was commissioned outside the master’s workshop (‘a centena-
ro’) providing the raw material and payment for piecework (Pierucci 2005,
23). Great demand from the Neapolitan aristocracy also induced the family
to open another workshop. The commercial outlet in the Kingdom’s capital
city enabled a horizontal increase in activity, with the distribution of raw
materials throughout Castelli, making this workshop a reference point for
other craftsmen. The organisation of production forms was therefore also
diversified in this branch. There is documentary evidence from the 1570s of
merchants commissioning batches of pots for the Rome market and provi-
ding workshops with raw materials in exchange for pots (Güll 2005, 28–29).
Perhaps it is from this date that the figure of the merchant-entrepreneur fits
into the organisation of distribution thus far in the hands of the craftsmen
themselves.
174
more into the role of raw materials provider (silkworm eggs and cocoons)
and reducing its function as yarn suppliers, despite the quality that had
been very much appreciated on the Italian market during the Middle Ages
(Bulgarelli Lukacs 2000, 523–9).
3.2 Ceramics
Ceramics production also seemed to be divided into two different forms of
organisation: proto-industry and handicraft work. Pottery was produced
in several settlements, but only one of them was able to expand its produ-
cts out of Abruzzo, namely Castelli, which became the most famous pro-
duction centre. It was a small settlement perched on the rocky soil and the
hazardous roads of the Gran Sasso massif, and owed its fortune to the pre-
sence of clay, water and timber, as well as the ability of its population to pro-
duce ceramics – in all likelihood by a community of Benedictine monks.
Thanks to its pottery, Castelli reached fame in and outside the Kingdom of
Naples from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th centu-
ry. The finest specimens can now be admired in the museums of Europe,
and the names of some potters are well known, as are their styles (see Pic-
ture 7.1). The organisation of work into masters and workers appears typical
of the workshop, a place of production and marketing of the finished pro-
duct (Pierucci 2005, 20–7; Ead. 2007, 251–67). The most important work-
shops managed distribution directly in the big cities where they also fou-
nd the necessary raw materials (white clay, lead and tin). Sometimes, when
market success was particularly remarkable, as in the case of the de Pom-
peo family, the production stages were divided up, and the semi-finished
clay phase was commissioned outside the master’s workshop (‘a centena-
ro’) providing the raw material and payment for piecework (Pierucci 2005,
23). Great demand from the Neapolitan aristocracy also induced the family
to open another workshop. The commercial outlet in the Kingdom’s capital
city enabled a horizontal increase in activity, with the distribution of raw
materials throughout Castelli, making this workshop a reference point for
other craftsmen. The organisation of production forms was therefore also
diversified in this branch. There is documentary evidence from the 1570s of
merchants commissioning batches of pots for the Rome market and provi-
ding workshops with raw materials in exchange for pots (Güll 2005, 28–29).
Perhaps it is from this date that the figure of the merchant-entrepreneur fits
into the organisation of distribution thus far in the hands of the craftsmen
themselves.
174
