Lustre bowl with Pardalot decoration

This large carinated bowl has coppery-red lustre decoration entirely covering its surface, including the inner rim, which is trimmed with a small festoon. At the centre is a large pardalot, a stylised bird with wispy feathers extending from its wings and tail. Its head faces backwards while its long flexible legs stretch out in the opposite direction. Around the bird are three carnations whose leaves are intricately worked to echo the feathers. The ground is dotted with florets. The lustred lip is trimmed with several fine lines.

This type of ceramic ware belongs to late Valencian output, which is related to Mudéjar art. The term mudéjar is a Spanish alteration of the Arabic word mudajan[1]. The name is attributed to the Muslims in Spain who became subjects of Christian kingdoms after the Reconquista during the period of tolerance. After the surrender of Toledo in 1085 and the conquest of Saragossa in 1118, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula had trouble repopulating the vast newly conquered territories. They allowed the Muslim population to remain under Christian domination in the territories that had been taken back from them, while preserving their religion, their language and their own legal organisation. The Christians had a certain fascination for the Islamic monuments and works of art in the conquered cities. These social circumstances fostered the birth of Mudéjar art, which can be defined as the result of the meeting between Islamic and the Christian artistic traditions.

Metallic lustre applied to ceramic ware is a typically Islamic technique that originated in Iraq. It developed in Spain from the twelfth century in southern al-Andalus and was introduced later in the north and north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, where it is maintained to this day. Arab historians tell of the manufacture and export of this tableware. Very early, the use of metallic lustre constituted one of the specialities of Valencia’s workshops. Al-Idrīsī[2] (1100–c. 1165) relates that the qal‘a of Ayyūb (Calatayud), which belonged to the province of Valencia, produced and exported lustre ceramics. From the late thirteenth century onwards and up until the seventeenth century, Valencian potters developed their own production by introducing redder and more coppery metallic oxides, more yellow glaze for the ground and variants in the decoration, which evolved into more naturalistic themes. Coppery red lustre is also found in Hafsid lustre ceramics made in Bejaia (Bougie, in Algeria), some of which was exported to Europe. A text dating from 1312 that mentions the inventory of the pharmacy of Genoa lists fine golden glazed earthenware from Bejaia[3].

This bowl belongs to the pardalot series whose prototype probably had its origin in Persian decoration, which featured an eagle motif. An eagle with spread wings is often depicted on the reverse of dishes from the region of Valencia. From the first half of the fifteenth century onwards, the bird became more noticeably stylised, and by the eighteenth century stylisation had become common in Valencian production. The presence of the carnation denotes a Turkish influence, which reached the West through fabrics and ceramics. The Turks called this flower karanfil. Its precise origin is unknown; it may come from Iran or China.

[1] Adjective derived from the verb dajana meaning “to settle somewhere”.

[2] Famous Arab geographer, the author of  Kitāb nuzhat al-mushtāq fī khtirāq alāfāq (The Pleasure Excursion of One Who is Eager to Traverse the Regions of the World).

[3] De Mas Latrie, 1866.