Vaisselle de terre et pouvoirs politiques à Chypre aux époques comnène, franque et vénitienne

Abstract

The comparative study of the written sources, of the literary, architectural, artistic and archaeological data has highlighted a Frankish identity in Cyprus between the late twelfth and early sixteenth century. The question that arises here is whether the Frankish identity appeared also in the pottery used in the island at the time of the kingdom of Lusignan. To measure the impact that the Latin presence has had on the production and the supply of pottery in Frankish Cyprus, it is necessary to examine the situation before the arrival of the Latins when the island was a Byzantine province in which the potters did not manufactured glazed ceramic. Considering this situation, the creation ex-nihilo of workshops in the middle of the thirteenth century asks the question of the origin of artisans. Until now the Medieval Cypriot pottery was considered as a production under Byzantine influence. However the fine glazed wares were probably more connected with the Christian Levant than with Byzantium. We shall also consider the evolution of the pottery trade after the conquest of the island by the Venetians in the late fifteenth century. Thus, in this well-defined framework, we will try to give a definition of the “ Frankish Pottery” in Cyprus, terms that refer to different realities during the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.