In the British museum is a plate painted with an antelope and Moresque ornament in blue, and with the inscription “Senta Catalina Guarda Nos:” others occur, though very rarely, with Spanish inscriptions. At the commencement of the 17th century the Valencian wares had lost nearly all their Moresque character, and the employment of the copper lustre only was retained: the designs having figures in the costumes of that period and coarse leafage or birds with “rococo” ornaments.
It would thus appear that the fabrique of Malaga was the most ancient, and that of Valencia the most important in Spain; but other potteries existed, and their productions were widely distributed. The woodcut represents a Valencian dish with golden lustre, of the 15th century. That these wares were imported into England is proved by fragments found in London, on one of which, in the British museum, is represented a man in the costume of the period of Henry the fourth, about 1400.
Makers’ names have never been observed upon pieces of this pottery, and marks are very rarely met with. The above marks are on the back of two small plates with deep centres, in which is painted a shield of arms bearing a crowned eagle with open wings in blue, the rest of the surface being diapered with small vine or briony leaves and interlaced tendrils in concentric order, of golden lustre on the creamy white ground.
These pieces are perhaps of the same service, probably of Malaga or Valencia, and may be of the earlier half of the 15th century; they are in the writer’s possession. In Mr. Henderson’s rich collection is a vase on one side of which is the inscription, of which we give a facsimile:
It reads “Illustrissimo Signore Cardinale D’Este in Urbe Romæ.”
Specimens of a lustred ware have been brought from Sicily, differing materially from that of Spain, and perhaps forming a connecting link between that and the earlier Persian pottery. They are formed of an ordinary clay covered with an earthy or stanniferous (?) wash, which is again coated with a rich translucent blue glaze on which a diapering of vermicular ornament in coppery lustre covers the whole piece, except that the edges and handles are also painted in lustre. This ware is by no means common; it occurs in the form of plates, covered bowls, and “albarelli:” and is supposed to be the workmanship of Moorish potters at Calata-Girone.