Plate - Earthenware - Grottaglie, 17th century.

Exhibition plate or centerpiece, maiolica.

Produced in Grottaglie (Puglia, Italy) in the second half of the XVII century.

In the mid-17th century, Grottaglie consolidated its role as a center of excellence for the production of terracotta tableware and maiolica. In this period, the city boasted an entire district of shops carved into the calcareous rock (the Ceramic Quarter), where the production of plates and everyday containers was favored by the abundance of local red clay.
The production was divided between 'use' ceramics (rougher and more functional) and decorated maiolica.
The terracotta plates were shaped on the potter's wheel and fired in wood-fired kilns dug into the caves.

This plate belongs to the 'Compendiary Style': widespread in the 17th century and characterized by extreme simplicity: few brush strokes (often in yellow and blue) on a white background.