Hispano-Moorish lustred earthenware in tones with intense metallic sheen on a creamy white glaze. A turned jar with a rounded profile, featuring four cylindrical handles connecting the neck to the body without extending beyond the opening, a wide neck, and a curved footring. <\/p>\n\n
The Muslim conquest of Spain began in 711, following the defeat of the Visigoth king Roderic by the troops of Tariq ibn Ziyad at the Battle of Guadalete, which brought an end to the Visigothic Kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula. It was under the Nasrid dynasty, founded by Muhammad ibn Nasr, that the Emirate of Granada\u2014the last Muslim state of Al-Andalus\u2014was established following its conquest in 1238. As the patron of the Alhambra\u2019s construction, it was during the reign of Muhammad I of Granada that the ceramic arts received a significant boost with the introduction of cobalt blue from the East, likely during the immigration of Persian potters from the Seljuk period, who fled Iran in the face of Genghis Khan\u2019s invasion in the early 13th century. <\/p>\n\n
Rich in clay thanks to its marshes, the Valencia region produced, prior to the conquest of 1238, earthenware with a white tin glaze\u2014a technique common throughout the Muslim world but absent elsewhere in Europe. The only pigments used to decorate these pieces were blue, brown, and green. <\/p>\n\n
In 1309, Pere Boil of Aragon (d. 1323), \u201cMestre Racional,\u201d first lord of Manises and diplomat in the service of James II of Aragon (c. 1267\u20131327), traveled on a diplomatic mission to Granada. It appears that during this diplomatic mission, Pere Boil met the former governor of M\u00e1laga, Abu Said, son of Ismail and nephew of Muhammad I. Following this meeting, it seems that agreements were reached between the two men to introduce the \u201cobra de M\u00e1laga\u201d (work of M\u00e1laga) into the workshops of Manises. It also seems likely that Nasrid potters settled in Manises at that time, bringing with them the secret of glazed cobalt blue. It also appears plausible that contacts between the Crown of Aragon and the Middle East, thanks to the diplomatic missions established in Alexandria and Beirut during the reign of James I of Aragon, had a direct influence on production in Paterna and Manises. <\/p>\n\n
The metallic lustre decoration was invented by Muslim potters in the 9th century. This technique involved painting a design composed of oxidized metallic elements\u2014copper and silver\u2014onto the surface of a piece that had already been fired with its glaze; the piece was then fired at a lower temperature in oxygen-depleted kilns. This reduction firing encouraged the oxides to penetrate the glaze while transforming them into microparticles of metal. From Al-Andalus, the production of lustrous earthenware spread throughout Europe through massive exports from centers such as M\u00e1laga and Valencia. <\/p>\n\n
One of the oldest surviving documents likely referring to the \u201cobra de Maliqa\u201d\u2014that is, ceramics from M\u00e1laga\u2014whose Arabic inscription appears on the back of a plate preserved in Berlin \u2014is an inventory from the English port of Portsmouth dated 1289, which records the arrival of a shipment of ceramics with \u201cstrange sheens\u201d intended for Eleanor of Castile (1241\u20131290), the first wife of Edward I of England. Another document, dated 1297 in Collioure, also mentions the importation of ceramics from Malaga. <\/p>\n\n
When the Arabs lost control of the port of Algeciras, which was subsequently reconquered by King Alfonso XI in 1344, the export of gilded ceramics from M\u00e1laga encountered difficulties, a situation that would contribute to the great boom of the Manises kilns, which operated at full capacity from the early 14th century through the third quarter of the 15th century. Thus, the gilded production from the workshops of Manises, Paterna, and Valencia in general would be referred to in documents of the time as \u201cobra de Maliqa,\u201d \u201cMelica,\u201d or \u201cMaliqua,\u201d supplanting the term that had initially been used for Nasrid gilded ceramics from M\u00e1laga. It was not until documents dating from the mid-15th century that the expressions \u201cobra de Manizes\u201d and \u201coperam terre de Manizes\u201d appeared. <\/p>\n\n
The earliest known date for the gilded pottery from Manises dates back to 1325. The gilded and blue pottery from the same kilns is first documented in 1333, the date of the earliest known contract in which the expression \u201copus terre daurati cum zafra\u201d (gilded earthenware with cobalt blue) appears. According to notarial documents from the second quarter of the 14th century, we can identify the names of several Mudejar potters: Albocayr\u00e9n, Alfalem, Almoxon\u00ed, Almurci, Ben\u00e7uleymen, Bon\u00e7or, Hi\u00e7a, Marmola, and Zuleymen, as well as a Christian, Bonanat Mart\u00edne\u00e7. Among the most notable dynasties are the Almurci (or Almorci), active in Manises from the 13th to the late 15th centuries, and the Alcudo, active from 1404 onward. <\/p>\n\n
Notarized documents have made it possible to identify 46 potters working in the Valencia region between 1350 and 1429, including 27 Muslims, 17 Christians, and 2 converts. It is evident that most of the potters were Muslims, yet the trade was predominantly in the hands of Christian merchants. During the wars between Pedro I of Castile and Pedro IV of Aragon in 1363\u20131364, Manises was almost entirely destroyed, forcing all its inhabitants to seek refuge in Valencia. The town was rebuilt between 1369 and 1372 under the leadership of Felipe Boil, Lord of Manises, who gave new impetus to the local ceramics industry. A document dated 1407 mentions the potter Hamet J\u00e1fer of Manises, whose son, J\u00e1fer Almaguef, residing in the Moorish quarter of Valencia, was engaged in the trade of buying and selling ceramics. <\/p>\n\n
In 1383, Father Francesc Eiximenis wrote *Regiment de la cosa p\u00fablica*, in which he describes the beauties of Valencia, *Les specials belleses dela ciutat de Valencia*. In the 27th item of this chapter, he writes: \u201c… but above all, there is the beauty of the gilded work from Manises, masterfully painted, which everyone is enamored with, so much so that the Pope, the cardinals, and the great men of this world claim it as a special grace and are amazed that such an excellent and noble work can be made from earth.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Numerous royal commissions for gilded tableware and earthenware tiles in Manises and Paterna are documented as early as the second half of the 14th century, attesting to the influence of these workshops: Cardinal Audoin Aubert (1364), King Pedro IV of Aragon and Queen Leonor of Sicily for their residences in Tortosa (1370), Barcelona (1376, 1382), and Valencia (1382), the Duke of Berry (1382), and the Duke of Burgundy (1391). The heraldry found on many pieces with metallic luster attests to the importance of exports throughout Europe. <\/p>\n\n
Although the term \u201cHispano-Moorish\u201d pottery has been in use since the mid-19th century\u2014when Robinson first popularized it in the catalog of the Soulages Collection\u2014this expression had already appeared in the writings of travelers to Spain during the English Romantic period. However, this designation is not entirely accurate, as Balbina Martinez Cavir\u00f3 points out, when used to describe the gilded tableware from the workshops of Nasrid and Mudejar potters. In the history of art on the Iberian Peninsula, two contemporary movements must be distinguished. Although closely related, each has its own distinct character: Nasrid art, that is, the art of the Muslims who conquered the territories of Al-Andalus, and Mudejar art, which corresponds to the art of Christian Spain in the late Middle Ages, which assimilates elements of Islamic art and Western art in general through a sophisticated syncretism. <\/p>\n\n
Moorish art actually refers to the artistic production created by Muslims who were forcibly converted to Christianity under the edicts of conversion issued by the Catholic Monarchs in 1502, following the fall of Boabdil, the last Moorish king of Granada, in 1492. In the history of ceramics produced on Spanish soil, it is therefore necessary to clearly distinguish between the three existing types of gilded tableware: Nasrid, Mudejar, and Moorish. <\/p>\n\n
Opinions among ceramic historians differ regarding the dating of this collection of pieces, with estimates ranging from the second half of the 14th century to the early 15th century.<\/p>\n\n
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