Decoration

Basque pottery is fundamentally staid, and largely utilitarian and functional. It reached its decorative heights in the 17 th, 18 th and 19 th centuries, with green and manganese brown being used over tin white in most pottery from Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya. Blue over white is found in pottery from Hijona, Erenchun, Eguileta and Vitoria in Álava and from Marañón in Navarre. Green and blue motifs are also very common.

The use of these colours probably came from north of the Ebro river, from Aragon and possible eastern Spain. Since the beginning of the 20 th century, however Basque pottery was largely plain, except for items created for religious purposes.

We know that there were over 50 pottery centres in the Basque Country in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, with considerable production. However, they started to disappear nearly completely with the industrial revolution and the discovery and widespread use of new materials.