AN HISPANO-MORESQUE ARMORIAL LUSTRE CHARGER

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HISPANO-MORESQUE POTTERY After the decline of the Roman Empire, developments in pottery and medicine passed to the Near East. Schools of medicine and hospitals were founded in Islamic cities such as Damascus, Bagdad, Cairo, and Jundishapur, and the demand for containers for drugs, herbs and other substances stimulated the making and trade of pottery, much in the same way as ceramic workshops in Renaissance Europe frequently 'owed much of their prosperity, if not their actual existence, to commissions for drug vessels placed by pharmacies and monastic foundations' (Rudolf Drey, Apothecary Jars, London, 1978, p. 22). Advances in understanding of medicine were mirrored by the skills and techniques employed by potters. Lustre, with its iridescent sheen, was particularly difficult to produce, and it was also highly sought after. The Islamic potters are also credited with the invention of the albarello, which was perfectly suited for storage of solid and viscous materials. Its waisted shape cleverly enabled it to be grasped from a shelf with ease, and the bulbous rim allowed a parchment cover to be tied over it, thus providing a highly effective seal. Although Islamic pottery was exported to Europe, it was the conquest of Southern Spain by the Moors that was to have an enormous impact on European pottery. The Moors brought the arts and skills of the Islamic world with them, and a subtle blend of the Islamic and Spanish cultures was developed, which has come to be referred to as 'Hispano-Moresque'. Moorish potters worked in both the Islamic Nasrid Kingdom on the Southern coat of Spain, and in the pottery centres around Valencia in the Christian Kingdom of Aragón, and in particular, communities of Islamic potters are recorded as having lived and worked at Manises. It was in these Iberian pottery centres that Western Europe's first truly great pottery was produced. Rudolf Drey (ibid, p. 26) described the lustre techniques used by these Islamic artisans: 'a refinement in technique of decoration was the use of compositions made from oxide of silver or copper mixed with sulphur and a ferruginous clay such as ochre. The mixture was applied to the previously-glazed and fired vessel; a second firing in the presence of carbonaceous (black) smoke at a relatively low temperature resulted in reduction of the metallic oxide, and formation of a thin film of metal, imparting an iridescent sheen to the surface of the vessel. This technique of ornamentation (lustering) was used extensively in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries at Raqqa in Northern Mesopotamia, and at Kashan and Rayy in Persia, and at a later date, with certain modifications, in Spain and in Italy, at Deruta and Gubbio'. A variety of highly sophisticated Hispano-Moresque wares were produced and exported throughout Europe. As Anthony Ray points out (Spanish Pottery 1248-1898, London, 2000, p. 58), the demand was enormous, and the 'prestige of Valencian lustreware was such that in 1441 Philip the Good of Burgundy declared that Valenschenwerc could be imported via Bruges free of duty, and a similar exemption was made in Venice in 1455 for lauori da maiorica e da Valenca. But it was in Italy that the influence of Hispano-Moresque pottery was felt most. By the second half of the 15th century, it had become extremely fashionable among the Italian nobility to commission services with their coats of arms. One such charger, with the arms of the Florentine Morelli family, is illustrated by Ray on p. 86, no. 185 and is very close in decoration to the present lot. THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

AN HISPANO-MORESQUE ARMORIAL LUSTRE CHARGER

CIRCA 1450-75, VALENCIA (PROBABLY MANISES)

Details

AN HISPANO-MORESQUE ARMORIAL LUSTRE CHARGER
CIRCA 1450-75, VALENCIA (PROBABLY MANISES)
The centre decorated in brown lustre with coat of arms with a griffin rampant, the shield against a ground of ivy leaves, flowers and tendrils issuing from blue concentric circles, the leaves rendered in lustre alternating with blue and each with sgraffito veins, the border with two pierced apertures for suspension, the reverse with a lustre line spiralling to the centre (broken through and restored, rim with minor chipping, fritting and flaking to glaze)
17 15/16 in. (45.5 cm.) diam.

Provenance

P. Fontana Collection, no. 59266 (the reverse with red inventory number).

Exhibited

'Exposición de Cerámica Antigua Espanola', Palacio de La Virreina, Barcelona, 1942, exhibition label attached to the reverse.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

For armorial chargers of the same size, form and almost identical grounds, see Anthony Ray, Spanish Pottery 1248-1898 (London, 2000), p. 85, no. 183 and p. 86, no. 185.

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