The Industrial Arts in Spain Part 29

Count Florida Blanca wis.h.i.+ng in 1785 to establish at Madrid a manufactory of metallic-l.u.s.tred ware, had the following report on the actual state of the industry sent to him from Manises with full details of the manner in which it was required to be carried out.

"After the pottery is baked, it is varnished with white and blue, the only colours used besides the gold l.u.s.tre; the vessels are again baked; if the objects are to be painted with gold colour, this can only be put on the white varnish, after they have gone twice through the oven. The vessels are then painted with the said gold colour and are baked a third time, with only dry rosemary for fuel.

"The white varnish used is composed of lead and tin, which are melted together in an oven made on purpose; after these materials are sufficiently melted, they become like earth, and when in this state the mixture is removed and mixed with an equal quant.i.ty in weight of sand: fine salt is added to it, it is boiled again, and when cold, pounded into powder. The only sand which can be used is from a cave at Benalguacil, three leagues from Manises. In order that the varnish should be fine, for every _arroba_, 25 pounds of lead, 6 to 12 ounces of tin must be added, and half a bushel of fine-powered salt: if a coa.r.s.e kind is required, it is sufficient to add a very small quant.i.ty of tin, and three or four _cuartos_ worth of salt, which in this case must be added when the ingredient is ready for varnis.h.i.+ng the vessel.

"Five ingredients enter into the composition of the gold colour: copper, which is 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 s.h.i.+lling), sulphur three ounces, vinegar a quart; three pounds (of twelve ounces) of the earth or scoriae, which is left after this pottery is painted with the gold colour, is added to the other ingredients.

"They are mixed in the following manner: a small portion of sulphur in powder is put into a ca.s.serole with two small bits of copper, between them a coin of one silver _peseta_; the rest of the sulphur and copper is then added to it. When this ca.s.serole is ready, it is placed on the fire, and is made to boil until the sulphur is consumed, which is evident when no flame issues from it. The preparation is then taken from the fire, and when cold is pounded very fine; the red ochre and scoriae are then added to it; it is mixed up by hand and again pounded into powder. The preparation is placed in a basin and mixed with enough water to make a sufficient paste to stick on the sides of the basin; the mixture is then rubbed on the vessel with a stick; it is therefore indispensable that the water should be added very gradually until the mixture is in the proper state.

"The basin ready prepared must be placed in an oven for six hours. At Manises it is customary to do so when the vessels of common pottery are baked; after this the mixture is scratched off the sides of the basin with some iron instrument; it is then removed from there and broken up into small pieces, which are pounded fine in a hand-mortar with the quant.i.ty of vinegar already mentioned, and after having been well ground and pounded together for two hours the mixture is ready for decorating.

It is well to observe that the quant.i.ty of varnish and gold-coloured mixture which is required for every object can only be ascertained by practice."

Excellent l.u.s.tred ware was made at Murcia, and in several villages of the province of Valencia; a good example exists of this pottery at the museum (see woodcut); none, however, was so important as the manufactory of Manises. Diago, in his "a.n.a.les del reyno de Valencia, 1613-40,"

repeats the words of Eximeno: "That the pottery made at Valencia is painted and gilt with so much art, that it has enamoured every one, so much so that the pope, the cardinals, and princes send for it, astonished that things of such beauty can be made of earth."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATEAU, PROBABLY OF VALENCIA. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.]

This and similar texts relating to the exportation of Spanish pottery explains the fact of these specimens being so frequently met with in Italy. Pottery of a dark copper-coloured l.u.s.tre is made at the present time at Manises, and the imitations and forgeries to be met with at the dealers' shops in Madrid are made in that locality.

I have mentioned the different historical texts which allude to this industry, and the technical receipts showing the ingredients employed to give the l.u.s.tre. It is now no longer possible to doubt that this pottery came originally from the East. This opinion has gained ground of late years; for among the objects discovered by Sir Henry Layard at Nineveh, and in more recent excavations in Ephesus and Asia Minor, fragments of pottery have been found with metallic l.u.s.tre. This and other important examples of artistic culture undoubtedly arose in Persia. No examples which may be mentioned can give a better or more distinct idea of this than a comparison between the Persian and Hispano-Moresque wares at the South Kensington Museum. The technical proceedings and effect produced by the metallic l.u.s.tre on a white ground, with touches here and there of blue, are exactly the same in both cases. The princ.i.p.al difference consists in a greater richness and variety of ornamentation which we find in the specimens brought from Persia, especially those covered with a turquoise blue l.u.s.tre, those of a dark blue and metallic l.u.s.tre, and those on which gold is applied _en froid_, of which I know no similar examples in Spain. It is possible they may have existed in the mosques, but no traces remain of mosques built by the Spanish Moors during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The mosques at Cordova and Toledo which still exist are of an earlier date. If we judge by the mosque of Amru at Cairo, and others of the same early period, tile decorations were not used in their ornamentation, and it appears probable that this industry only became important after the 10th century. The similarity of objects used in Spain and Persia is constantly observed by travellers in that country. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, who was sent there as amba.s.sador from the King of Castille from 1403 to 1406, gives a most interesting description of tile decoration, by which we find they were used in the same manner as in Spain. ("Historia del gran Tamorlan," Seville, 1582, fol.) Another Spanish traveller, Silva de Figueroa, in a MS. belonging to Don Pascual de Gayangos, in describing his emba.s.sy to Persia in 1618 mentions the manner in which these tiles were used. I do not quote from many other travellers, for their remarks are hardly so valuable as those of Spaniards, who were accustomed to see these objects in their native country.

After mentioning the historical sources from which I have traced the manufactory of Hispano-Moresque l.u.s.tred ware in Spain, it is advisable to enumerate the most important examples which have reached us belonging to the 14th century, or to an earlier date.

The fine vase at the Alhambra, Granada. (See woodcut.)

A vase of the same character which exists at the Archaeological Museum of Madrid.

A vase of the same kind, which belonged to the painter, Mariano Fortuny, and which was sold at the sale of his art objects in Paris, April 30th, 1875. (_Vide_ "Atelier de Fortuny," Paris, 1875.)

A fragment of another vase, which belonged also to Fortuny, and was sold at the same time.

A fragment of a vase at the Museo of Granada; it is similar to the others in form and size, but without metallic l.u.s.tre.

A large plaque, or _azulejo_, which belonged also to Fortuny.

The _azulejos_, or tile decorations of the house known by the name of Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo at Granada.

Several dishes and bowls at the Kensington, Madrid, and Cluny Museums, which belong to this period.

Baron Charles Davillier in his article on Hispano-Moresque l.u.s.tred ware, in "Atelier de Fortuny," Paris, 1875, says that interesting specimens of this pottery exist also at the Museum of Stockholm, and the Cathedral of Mezzara in Sicily, but that he had not had the opportunity of studying them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOORISH VASE AT THE ALHAMBRA.]

All these objects have hitherto been considered to have proceeded from Malaga, writers on ceramic art derived their evidence from the text already mentioned, given in Ben Batutah's travels, the only one which alluded to the existence of this industry in Spain before the 15th century; but since I have found in Edrisi's Geography a manufacture mentioned of l.u.s.tred pottery which existed at Calatayud at the beginning of the 12th century, that is to say, more than _two centuries_ earlier than Ben Batutah's travels, I consider it extremely difficult to cla.s.sify them.

The fine vase at the Alhambra is 4 feet 5 inches high by 8 feet 2 inches in circ.u.mference. It is decorated in the centre with two antelopes, and a series of elegant traceries of knots, stems, and leaves which cover the body of the vase. The colours employed are brown and blue on a yellow ground, the metallic l.u.s.tre is extremely pale, of a mother-of-pearl colour. The following inscriptions are repeated all over the vase in African characters:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arabic

Felicity and Fortune.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arabic

Permanent prosperity.]

A similar vase was at the Alhambra until the beginning of the present century; it disappeared at that time, and its present whereabouts is unknown. Drawings exist of this vase which have been published in Lozano's "Ant. Arab. de Espana," and Murphy's Atlas of "Arabian Ant. of Spain."

The fine vase at the Museo Arq. of Madrid is similar in style. It has been reproduced in a chromo-lithograph in Mus. Esp. de Ant. VI. p. 435.

Both these vases are decorated with colours which are disposed in quite a distinct manner to all the other specimens of this pottery hitherto known. The vase at Granada is ornamented in the centre with two antelopes, and from drawings which have reached us of the companion vase, we find birds are introduced in the decoration of the handles.

Animals combined with ornamentation are never met with in the immense number of Moorish traceries of all kinds which may be studied at Granada. This circ.u.mstance has induced me to consider these objects to have been brought from Persia, for Ben Batutah tells us that several Persians of importance had settled at Granada; and it is highly probable that a direct communication existed between these two countries. It is fair, however, to mention a detail which is against this argument. The arms of the Moorish kings of Granada appear on the vase which has disappeared from Granada, and although it may have been ordered from Persia, it is also possible that it was made in the province of Andalucia.

The vase which belonged to Fortuny, and the large _azulejo_, Nos. 42, 44 (_vide_ "Atelier de Fortuny"), are very different in style. They have no colours, and their metallic l.u.s.tre is very low in tone, a common circ.u.mstance in Hispano-Moorish pottery. The following inscription,

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arabic]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TILE PROBABLY FROM THE ALHAMBRA; FORMERLY IN THE MARRYAT COLLECTION.]

"Glory to Our Lord the Sultan Abul Hajaj," [A.D. 1333-1354.] occurs on this tile, an inscription very frequently met with also on the walls of the Alhambra. Abul Hajaj carried out works of restoration to a very large extent at the Palace. The two large tiles on either side of the entrance-door of the Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo at Granada, although not so fine as the vase and tile which belonged to Fortuny, are similar in general character, and it is safe therefore to consider these objects, and others of a similar kind, to have proceeded from the manufacture of Malaga mentioned by Ben Batutah, or other pottery works of the same kind, which probably existed at that time in the province of Granada.

Metallic-l.u.s.tred dishes have at times an even surface without ornamentation in relief, and sometimes are ornamented with ribs and convex dots, which appear to suggest that they are meant to imitate the structure of nails, bars, or other work common to metal vessels, in the manner of Etruscan vases.

The finest specimens of Hispano-Moresque ware at the Kensington Museum are--

No. 8968-'63. A vase which belonged to the Soulages Collection. Mr.

Fortnum, in his "Majolica, Hispano-Moresco, Persian, Damascus and Rhodian Wares, at the Kensington Museum," London, 1873, describes this vase as spherical on a trumpet-shaped base, the neck of elongated funnel form, flanked by two large wing-shaped handles perforated with circular holes. The surface, except the mouldings, is entirely covered with a diaper-pattern of ivory or briony leaves, tendrils and small flowers in brownish l.u.s.tre, and blue on the white ground. Spanish. 14th or 15th century. (See woodcut.)

No. 486-'64. Bowl, funnel-shaped, with representation of a s.h.i.+p in full sail, with the royal arms of Portugal, 15th century.

The following are also especially worthy of mention:--

No. 7659-'62. Bowl and cover, painted with a scroll diaper in alternate compartments of gold l.u.s.tre and blue, the cover surmounted by a cupola-shaped ornament in gold l.u.s.tre. 16th century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VASE DIAPERED WITH IVY OR BRYONY IN GOLDEN l.u.s.tRE.

HISPANO-MORESCO, 14TH OR 15TH CENTURY. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.]

No. 489-'64. Plateau with l.u.s.tred arabesque ornaments in compartments.

In the centre are two simulated Arabic inscriptions. 15th century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATEAU, DIAPERED AND WITH RAISED RIBS AND STUDS, IN BLUE AND GOLDEN l.u.s.tRE. THE ARMS OF LEON, CASTILE, AND ARAGON.

HISPANO-MORESCO. 15TH OR 16TH CENTURY. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.]

No. 1680-'55. Plateau, gold s.h.i.+eld in the centre, with the arms of Leon, Castille, and Aragon. The diapered ground is curiously ribbed, and dotted with raised studs. (See woodcut.)

No. 243-'53. Plateau, in the centre an escutcheon of arms of Aragon, Leon, and Castile. (See woodcut.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: SALVER, DIAPERED IN GOLDEN l.u.s.tRE, WITH THE s.h.i.+ELD OF ARAGON, LEON, AND CASTILE. HISPANO-MORESCO. 15TH OR 16TH CENTURY. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.]

No. 104-'69. Vase, with s.h.i.+eld of arms, seemingly of Sicily and Portugal.