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Ceramics
 The
Iberian Peninsula has produced pottery from Neolithic and
Roman times to the present. The tradition continued in Al-Andalus,
where tiled walls, floors and buildings of all kinds became
typical features of the built landscape.
Pottery
is made from different types of natural clay or earth, and
glazes are made from minerals mixed with sand, which melt at
high temperatures to form a waterproof, colorful seal on the
pottery. Its distinctive style comes from its shape, color,
and decoration. Andalusian ceramic artisans developed many
styles and techniques that have strongly influenced ceramic
production around the world -- probably in your own bath or
kitchen.
Production of fine ceramics during Medieval times was a
technology that involved the whole continent of Eurasia. The
intense network of Muslim trade routes in the eastern
hemisphere contributed to the spread of techniques through
trade over land and sea.
In
early Muslim Iraq, for example, a new type of pottery was
made that eventually spread to China, where it became one of
the most famous types of ceramic ever made. In Iraq, light
brown clay was covered with a white, opaque glaze made from
tin. On top of the white glaze, cobalt was painted to make
blue designs when fired in the kiln. Arabic lettering,
geometric designs and animals were popular on these dishes.
Use of
cobalt blue glaze spread along the Silk Roads to China,
where it was applied not to brown clay, but to the pure
white, thin, bone-hard porcelain that was China’s secret.
Blue-and-white porcelain was born, and became wildly popular
as an export item in east and west. It is still imitated
today. Designs for blue-and-white wares included Chinese
motifs like clouds and fish scales, and Islamic motifs like
arabesques and geometric patterns. Blue-and-white cobalt and
tin-glazed ceramics spread to the Mediterranean area,
including Al-Andalus.
 Central
Asian shaped tile patterns and textures also contributed to
the fund of ceramic designs and technologies. Walls, floors
and domes were covered with a surface of shaped, cut tiles
to form a mosaic surface like the one at left. This
technique came to North Africa and Al-Andalus as
zillij work.
A
technique called
cuerda
seca, or “dry cord,” involved drawing the design
on fired clay with a crayon made of the mineral manganese
mixed with wax or oil. Between these crayoned lines,
different colors of glaze could be painted to create a
mosaic effect, and the colors would not run together during
firing. This was more economical than the method of cutting
tiles glazed in different colors into shapes like the one at
left. With the
cuerda
seca technique shown at right, red, green, brown,
yellow, and blue glazes could be combined on one object,
painted, and glazed in one firing. This technique allowed
freedom of design that eventually influenced majolica ware,
with its colorful designs in Spain, and later in Italy.
  Another
important technique used in the Andalusian ceramic industry
was lusterware. White, tin-glazed pottery was painted with a
metallic overglaze, sometimes together with cobalt blue for
contrast, and fired again. This was a difficult and very
expensive technique whose pieces were treasured by the
wealthy and found their way into palaces like the famous
Alhambra in Granada. One Andalusian center of lusterware
production was Valencia, which continued to produce objects
for wealthy families of Renaissance Italy like the Medici,
in the 15th century. Wedding vases with the
family coat of arms like the one at right, medicine jars for
apothecaries and hospitals, and plates for banquets were
among these valuable pieces.
Mudejar
ceramic artisans continued to work after they came under
Christian rule, and their styles and techniques persisted
during the following centuries. One of the legacies of
intolerance was the expulsion in the 16th century
of some artisan families, and along with it, the turn away
from the long tradition of Arabic and Islamic techniques and
styles, as well as the denial of their contribution.
Scholars, artisans and historians today are working to
recover the truth of that cultural heritage.
Further reading:
Heather
Ecker.
Caliphs and
Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain.
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Sackler Gallery,
2004.
Rosamond Mack.
From
Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art,
1300-1600. Berkeley: University of California Press,
2002.
Images:
Luster
& cobalt Iraq plates, Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C.
retrieved at
http://www.archaeology.org/0503/reviews/basra.html
For
more explanation and detailed images, see “Earthenware Tiles
and Ceramics of Seville” at
http://iweb.tntech.edu/cventura/Seville.htm.
Wedding
vase in lusterware produced at Valencia from Rosamond Mack.
See above for citation.
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