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Lot Essay
This type of ceramic with an earthenware body covered with a tin glaze and painted with green and manganese has been found at Madinat al-Zahra, Madinat Ilbira and other locations in Andalusia and dates it to the 10th century. Extant objects, which are mostly bowls and jars are decorated with kufic inscriptions and with depictions of humans and animals. Two dishes with horses painted in these colours are illustrated in Caviro, B.M.: Ceramica hispanomusulmana, Madrid, 1991, p.39, pl.13-14.
This type of object, an aquamanile in the form of an animal, probably a bull, is unusual in Caliphal Spain. It is a type of object that occurs in the East and was produced in Kashan in the 12th century. A fragmentary example is in the Musée de la Mer in Cannes. It originates from the wreck of Batéguier and is dated to the 10th century and to Andalusia. This shipwreck was found near Cannes in 1973. The piece is similar in size (14.9cm. high) and also has a cylindrical body. The neck of the animal is longer and it has been suggested that it represents a giraffe. It is covered with a lead green glaze. (Les Andalousies, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2000, no. 219, p.184) A thermoluminescence test, reference 33.38.24/TL4809, performed by the Alliance-Science-Art, Paris, dated 19 April 1994, notes that it was last fired around 1150 years ago, +/-10
See also Dodd, J.D.ed.: Al-Andalus, New York, 1992, nos 27-8, pp.234-5.
This type of object, an aquamanile in the form of an animal, probably a bull, is unusual in Caliphal Spain. It is a type of object that occurs in the East and was produced in Kashan in the 12th century. A fragmentary example is in the Musée de la Mer in Cannes. It originates from the wreck of Batéguier and is dated to the 10th century and to Andalusia. This shipwreck was found near Cannes in 1973. The piece is similar in size (14.9cm. high) and also has a cylindrical body. The neck of the animal is longer and it has been suggested that it represents a giraffe. It is covered with a lead green glaze. (Les Andalousies, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2000, no. 219, p.184) A thermoluminescence test, reference 33.38.24/TL4809, performed by the Alliance-Science-Art, Paris, dated 19 April 1994, notes that it was last fired around 1150 years ago, +/-10
See also Dodd, J.D.ed.: Al-Andalus, New York, 1992, nos 27-8, pp.234-5.