Definition of "majolica"
majolica
noun
countable and uncountable, plural majolicas
Earthenware decorated with coloured lead silicate glazes applied directly to an unglazed body.
Quotations
Majolica was produced for the first time by Messrs. Minton, in 1850, and they have been for many years the only producers of this article. The name of majolica is now applied indiscriminately to all fancy articles of coloured pottery. When, however, it is decorated by means of coloured glazes, if these are transparent, it ought to be called Palissy ware […]
1877, Leon Arnoux, Director, Minton & Co., British Manufacturing Industries POTTERY, page #:42 https://archive.org/stream/britishmanufact08goog#page/n56/mode/2up/search/palissy
Summary: Analysis confirms that Palissy used coloured lead glazes, lead silicates with added metal oxides of copper [for green], cobalt [for blue], manganese [for brown and black] or iron [for yellow ochre] with a small addition of tin [for opacity] to some of the glazes." in a sombre earth-toned palette, using naturalistic scenes of plants and animals cast from life.
2016, A Bouquillon, J Castaing, F Barbe, S.R. Paine, B Christman, T Crépin-Leblond, A.H.. Heuer, Lead-Glazed Rustiques Figulines of Bernard Palissy and his Followers: Archaeometry. 59. 10.1111/arcm.12247.
Majolica is the term used to describe pottery made of an earthenware body coated with semi-translucent coloured lead glazes. It was developed at the Minton factory in the late 1840s by Léon Arnoux, who had come to the Potteries in 1848.
2018, Claire Blakey, Minton Majolica: A Visual Feast of Victorian Opulence Minton Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20190505103014/http://www.themintonarchive.org.uk/in-depth-minton-majolica/
Earthenware coated with opaque white tin-glaze, decorated with coloured metal oxide enamel(s).
Quotations
Enamel - A vitrifiable substance; opaque, generally Stanniferous majolica [...]
1857, Joseph Marryat, History of Pottery and Porcelain, Medieval and Modern, page #:373
Minton did not use the word maiolica themselves, relying instead on the Victorian version, majolica, which they used to mean wares of Renaissance inspiration, featuring hand painting on an opaque white glaze. […].
1999, Paul Atterbury and Maureen Batkin, Dictionary of Minton, ACC Art Books (2nd Revised edition edition 1 Jan. 1999), page #:124
The [tin-glaze] Majolica manufacture process has remained practically unchanged through time: shaping is done with a potter’s wheel; drying must be slow... two firings... the first one for biscuit-sintering and the second for the glaze used as a surface for decoration... Glaze is prepared with a mixture of glass-sand (silica-rich sand)... lead, and tin, and the painted decoration is done with metallic oxides such as cobalt blue, iron oxide, and antimony oxide.
2013, S. De la Vega, A. Castaneda-Gomez del Campo, M. Jimenez-Reyes, A. Tellez-Nieto, D. Tenorio, Majolica ware in the New Spain: an evaluation through NAA. The results of a study about [Tin-glaze] Majolica ceramics recovered from three sites located in Mexico City, Akademiai Kiado´, Budapest, Hungary