The major production centres of lustreware in Renaissance Italy (Deruta and Cafaggiolo) have been chosen as a case study to prove the importance of combining archaeological and written evidence, with production in Montelupo and Faenza also taken into account. The focus is on the relationship between different production centres and the movement of potters from one centre to the next as a unique means of transmitting technical knowledge. Written sources such as ‘recipes’ were not created by potters, but were usually collected by others decades after the actual transmission of skills occurred. In this respect the influence of models in the form of ‘fashionable’ objects circulating in the Mediterranean area, together with the movements of people, prove vital. The first appearance and transmission of lustreware are summarized, underlining the importance of the contacts with Spain. If the Italian tin-glazed pottery known as italo-moresca can be regarded as the result of imitated models, lustreware production requires skills that could not have been acquired by chance.
