Existing since the dawn of time, ceramics are revealed according to excavations in the 6th millennium BC in the West and two millennia later in the East. But do you know that ceramics in Tunisia is a tradition that goes back to the time of Antiquity? Let's see how this art became a tradition in the Maghreb.
HISTORY OF CERAMICS
To begin, let's define the word ceramic, the etymology of the word comes from the ancient Greek κεραμικός, keramikós meaning "of clay" and ceramics is defined as the art of making terracotta objects.
This ancestral activity has gone through time and evolved through numerous mutations. One of the major mutations is the discovery of fire which made it possible to make objects more resistant.
Ceramics is the first "art of fire" to be born, even before metal or glass. It is the most abundant material that man has created. And for some societies, this constitutes a cultural marker.
The oldest ceramics are over 25,000 years old and have been found in China. Over time, working the earth (clay) has become a profession. Today, it comes in different ways.
HISTORY OF CERAMICS IN TUNISIA
Millennial activity this art testifies to the antiquity of the traditions in the country and the passage of many peoples.
Ceramics has a long past in Tunisia and manifests itself through various typologies. Modeled ceramics is a very old way of doing things, it developed in the south of Tunisia at the end of the Neolithic era and the beginning of Antiquity. The Phoenicians introduced the wheel to create turned ceramics during their stay in Tunisia, but there were several factors and external and internal influence that allowed this evolution:
First, the development of agriculture in Tunisia (wheat or oil) and some extractive industries (copper, tin) have created a new request to export its products, the use of ceramic amphoras.
Then, when Tunisia belonged to the Romans, ceramics experienced an incredible expansion, particularly thanks to the adoption of the sigilla.
roman sigil
And finally the adoption of ceramic tiles imported from the East and used in the mosque of Kairouan in 836 by Muslims coming from North Africa.
The many influences coming mainly from the outside world, for example when Christianity arrived, tiles with Christian iconography developed, there were representations on them and when Islam arrived, the style changed, there was no more representation on tiles.
The example of the development of ceramic tiles in Tunisia from the beginning of the Muslim period to the end of the 19th century shows a great openness of Tunisian ceramics to accept successive Andalusian, Turkish, French, etc. contributions.
This open-mindedness has enabled Tunisian ceramics to maintain and control exports while always keeping the objective of maintaining decoration on tiles, arabesques and of course the national heritage.
Nowadays, Tunisia produces very fine ceramics combining old and modern in different regions (Ain Drahem , Berrama , Guellala , Menzel Fersi , Moknine , Nafta , Sejnene , Testour , Tozeur) and also in Nabeul.
Indeed, the city of Nabeul is considered an important center, renowned for its terracotta pottery, its earthenware tiles and its craftsmen. who excels in the art of manipulating terracotta and clay .
