CIRCA 1525-60, PROBABLY VALENCIA (MANISES)

Details

AN HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRE DISH
CIRCA 1525-60, PROBABLY VALENCIA (MANISES)
Decorated in gold and copper lustre and enriched in pale blue, the central lustred boss reserved with a Maltese cross, the well lustred with 'comma hatched trees' and part-hatched leaves divided alternately by leaf-shaped and stylised forms, the border moulded with large blue leaves divided by lustred arches above hatched trees and grasses, pierced aperture for suspension, the reverse decorated in a silvery-grey lustre with a central rosette within spiralling lines enclosed by scrolling fern ornament around the border (chipping and flaking)
16 in. (40.7 cm.) diam.

Provenance

P. Fontana Collection, no. 59289 (inscribed paper label attached to reverse, the reverse also with red inventory number).

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

See Anthony Ray, Spanish Pottery 1248-1898 (London, 2000), pp. 116-117 for dishes with extremely similar decorative elements. Although there are similarities between pieces produced in Valencia in the second and third quarters of the sixteenth century with those of Catalonia (see lot 21), Ray suggests that the Valencian wares can probably be distinguished by their 'neatness of drawing' as well as the potting itself, which seems more typical of Valencia (ibid, pp. 115-116). It is also interesting to note the depressions on the reverse of this dish, and the following lot, where the clay has been pushed up to form the low relief leaves seen on the fronts.

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