Majolica Pottery is considered one of the oldest and finest of ceramic arts.
Although thought to be European in origin, its roots lay buried in the millennial sands of northern Africa. It was introduced to Europe through Spain by the invading Moors in the eighth century. In Spain, the art developed over the next several hundred years in the areas of Seville, Granada and Toledo. Spanish Majolica is often referred to as Talavera after a small city south of Toledo where ceramic artists congregated to practice their art.

Shortly after the Conquest of the new world in 1521, Majolica traveled on ship officers' tables and in the holds of Spanish galleons across the Atlantic to New Spain. In 1537 a potters' guild was established in the Earldom of Puebla (Mexico) by Royal Charter, after Dominican monks brought craftsmen from Talavera, Spain, to set up ceramics factory of the kind that existed back home.

The name Majolica is an anglicized version of the Spanish and the Italian word Maiolica, which means "from Majorca", a mediterranean island from which Spanish traders in the 14th and 15th centuries sold their wares to the rest of Europe. No matter whether you call it Talavera, Maiolica or Majolica, it refers to one specialized variety of vitrified (Tin-glazed) earthenware that has undergone and additional enrichment of natural earths, pigments and mineral colours that give its unique lustre and vibrant look.