Pottery from Fez

What it is

Together with Safi, Salé, Marrakesh and Tetouan, Fez is one of the five main centres of Moroccan ceramics and, according to the Maison de l’Artisan, is known for finely crafted pieces with a glossy glaze.¹ Around fifty master craftsmen in pottery and zellige work there, each with four or five assistants and apprentices.²

The patterns are closely tied to nature, with motifs such as olive stones, almonds, marjoram and jasmine, or to architecture, with zellige and mosaic.³ Besides blue on a white ground there are colourful pieces; the old potters had no more than five colours: white ground, brown, green, yellow and blue.⁴

History

According to Naïma El-Khatib-Boujibar, quoted by La Vie éco in 2006, glazed ceramics adopted from Spain and the Mashriq flourished most in Fez, and from there came the potters who settled in Meknes in the 18th century and later in Safi.⁵ The Maison de l’Artisan likewise describes potters from Fez who moved to Safi in the 19th century.⁶

What it is made of

The metal oxides come from mines in the surrounding area; the blue is obtained from cobalt-bearing ore containing nickel, and the more often it is refined, the deeper and less grey it becomes.⁷ Decorated pieces are made from a very carefully balanced body of feldspar, sand and clay fired at a high temperature.⁸

How it is made

The grey clay is crushed, kneaded and left to ferment, then divided into lumps and shaped on the wheel; the dried piece goes into a first firing.⁹ It is then dipped in white glaze and dried in the sun, the potter draws the patterns, and finally the craftsman applies the colours.¹⁰ Blue pieces carry geometric or plant lines, and dotted patterns on bowls and vases are traced with an index finger dipped in tar.¹¹

Today potters and zellige makers work in the Benjellik craft zone, where a clay processing plant is planned; a regional programme also supports gas kilns for potteries and lime kilns.¹²

How to recognise it

The hallmark is the blue: a master craftsman tells La Vie éco that this “Fez blue” cannot be found in any other city.¹³