From recent analysis of the enamel on Assyrian tiles and bricks it has been ascertained that the oxide of tin was used by the enamellers of that early time, but not to the same extent as the vitreous glaze.
Persia was the natural inheritor of the art of the ancient land of Mesopotamia, and the beautiful siliceous and probably the stanniferous glaze, and also metallic lustres, have been used in that country from very early times. The Arabs, or Saracens, evidently brought the workmen from the East, and imported many pieces of Damascus ware during the independent Caliphate of the Damascus Caliphs in Cordova in Spain, which lasted from the eighth century to the year 1235, when the Moors drove the Arabs out of Spain. The Arabs (says Riaño) had, as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, if not before, established the industry of metallic-lustred pottery in Spain. Edrisi, the Arab geographer, wrote in 1154, in describing Calatayud in Spain: “Here the gold-coloured pottery is made, which is exported to all countries.” This gold-coloured pottery is likely to have been similar to the siliceous glazed ware of the East. The next reference to lustred pottery is made by Ben Batutah, a celebrated Arab traveller, when travelling from Tangiers to Granada, and when passing Malaga (1349-57) he says: “At Malaga the fine golden pottery is made, which is exported to the furthermost countries.” The golden pottery here referred to is the tin-glazed Hispano-Moresque. At Manises, in the kingdom of Valencia, the famous lustred pottery fabriques or workshops were in a flourishing state in the fifteenth century, when Eximenus, in his “Regiment de la cosa publica,” quoted by Riaño, speaking of the excellent things made in his time at Manises in Valencia, says: “Above all, the beauty of the gold pottery, so splendidly painted at Manises, which enamours every one so much that the Pope, and the cardinals, and the princes of the world obtain it by special favour, and are astonished that such excellent and noble works can be made out of the earth.”
The same author translates a document he found in the British Museum, which gives a description of the whole of the making and preparing of the golden lustre as used at Manises in 1785: speaking of its composition, the document runs thus: “Five ingredients enter into the composition of the gold colour: copper, which is the better the older it is; silver as old as possible; sulphur, red ochre, and strong vinegar, which are mixed in the following proportions: of copper three ounces, of red ochre twelve ounces, of silver one peseta (about a shilling), sulphur three ounces, vinegar a quart.” All these ingredients are fused together, and afterwards ground and diluted with water and the vinegar to make the gold-coloured glaze or varnish for use in the decorating of the ware. A woodcut gives a very imperfect idea of Hispano-Moresque pottery, as the lustre and colour is everything in the ware; the designs generally are very simple leaf-work shields and small geometric repetitions. The beautiful dish (Fig. 7) is one of the finest examples of the ware made at Murcia in the province of Valencia. The statement of Eximenus regarding the Pope, the cardinals, and princes sending for this ware seems to have been correct, for most of the pieces known have been found or brought from Italy, to which country the majority of them had evidently been exported.
Fig. 7.—Valencia Dish; Hispano-Moresque. (S.K.M.)
Besides the lustred ware manufactured in the peninsula in the Middle Ages, the Azulejos, or tiles of bright colours, were made in small pieces, and were embedded in the walls to form geometric patterns. This manner of using these tiles was derived from the coloured and geometric Byzantine mosaics, tiles being used in Spain where mosaics would be used in the Eastern Empire; and perhaps the earliest use of them in Spain was in the Alhambra decoration of the fourteenth century. Afterwards the tiles became larger and more complete in their patterns. Terra-cotta figures and ornament, green and white-glazed pottery were also made by the Moors in Spain.
In the sixteenth century Spanish pottery design was of the Italian Renaissance character. Unlike the Moresque work, the designs were shaded and the colours more subdued, but the Moresque design still continued in favour, and to keep its flat treatment and bright effect of colour. The Italian kind of pottery was made at Talavera, at Andujar, and at La Rambla, as well as unglazed porous and coloured ware at the former place, and white unglazed pottery at the latter places. Coarse green and white pottery was made at Toledo in the sixteenth century; a large well-head or brim, with an interlaced Moresque band in relief, from this place is now in the Museum at Kensington.
A bowl of Talavera ware of the eighteenth century, painted in imitation of the Italian maiolica ware, is also in the Museum. The colours used are green, blue, orange, and manganese tint, which are usually found on the Spanish pottery of this period.
The well-known and extensive potteries at Alcora were established by Count Aranda in 1726, where porcelain and pipeclay wares were made with all kinds of designs, mostly imitations of France, Holland, England, and China. Most of the principal painters and modellers at these works were Frenchmen or Germans. The names of the chief artists were Haly, Knipper, Martin, Garces, Ferrer, and Prato. The Duke of Hijar, son of Count Aranda, succeeded his father (1800-1858) in the management of the Alcora potteries. A specimen of this ware is shown in the Rococo plaque (Fig. 8) with the subject of Galatea.
