Historically, such ware has been earthenware, usually terra cotta, glazed with a lead-tin, opaque, white glaze.
Colors result from washes of iron, cobalt, manganese, chrome, copper, vanadium, and other minerals.
The origin of majolica is traced to 9th centuty Persian ware, in which the first examples of an opaque white glaze can be found. Early pieces may have been made in an attempt to reproduce the whiteness of the porcelains being brought in from China over the silk route. By the time of the Italian Renaissance, the technique had reached a apex of technical perfection, and the work was exported all over the known world, usuually via the isle of Majorca, thus the name Majolica. The piece at right is a prime example of the painterly skill of the Italian masters of the technique. After a bisque fire to cone 05, pieces are dipped into the Unleaded Majolica glaze.