Faience, in art, earthenware covered with opaque colored glazes containing tin oxide. Its lustrous surface, usually decorated with striking ornamental designs in many colors, made it a leading luxury ware for table services, tiles, vases, and other objects from ancient times through the 1700s. Known as majolica in Italy and as delftware in the Netherlands and England, it was superseded in the 18th century by the more expensive hard-paste and soft-paste porcelain. See also Pottery.