Studio: international art (47.1909)

Hispano-Moresque Lustre IVare

Of the various ancient writers who have given an
account of the manufacture of this ware only one,
in 1585, names the vehicle with which the pigment
was laid on, to wit, not a brush but a feather;
with the use of which the admirable vivacity and
facileness of touch are entirely consistent. This is
particularly noticeable in the large sweeping curves
and flourishes with which the ornament of Hispano-
Moresque ware abounds. Nevertheless, many of
the broader surfaces must have been washed in
with a brush. Again, certain minute features, such

FIG. 7.—PALE LUSTRE DISH WITH BLUE OUTLINE
(XV.—XVI. CENT.)

as the tendrils of plants or ceriphs of lettering, for
which feather and brush alike would seem to be
too pliant, suggest, from the calligraphic qualities
they present, the use of some such implement
as a calamus or reed-pen.

The ground is usually a soft, cream-tinted glaze,
or “varnish,” as it is termed in the literature of the
subject. The range of the palette is limited. For
instance, black and green have been proved un-
suitable for the process. Practically, therefore, the
only colour introduced beside the characteristic
lustre is an intense azure blue, without the slightest
taint of yellow or green in its composition. As to
the lustre itself, it admits of almost infinite grada-
tions of tone from palest lemon-yellow to deep
ruddy copper, according to the proportion in which
silver or copper predominates. As a rule the
faintest and most golden tinge distinguishes the
16

earlier work ; while the copper-red colour, increasing
in depth and intensity with the advance of time, is
the sure sign of a comparatively late date. The
reason is that the earlier potters were more lavish
of the precious silver metal, but that, as years went
on, dictates of economy caused a more sparing use
of silver. The combined effect of blue and lustre
together will also be found to become more rare
in later work than in early specimens. The
latest pieces are characterised, not only by less
vigorous and more meticulous handling, but also
by a uniformly heavy purplish-red tinge in the
lustre.

Again, in the earlier period, the reverse side of the
lustred plate had almost as much decorative - care
bestowed upon it as the obverse. On the contrary,
in late specimens the ornament of the reverse tends
to degenerate into thin and meaningless strokes and
curls. Two dishes in the Victoria and Albert
Museum (Figs. 3 and 4), depicting respectively
an eagle displayed and a griffin segreant (a griffin
formed the badge of a medkeval Spanish Order
of Chivalry), illustrate the above peculiarity. Had
these two not been reverses, they might have been
assigned to the very beginning of the fifteenth
century. But that such a date is too early the
character of the obverse abundantly proves. In
either example the obverse, with its over-fine and
laboured intricacy, is incomparably inferior from
the artistic standpoint, though doubtless at the
time of its production it must have been in accord
with the taste of the age. Whereas the type of
design on the reverse, with its old-fashioned flavour,
was already so far out of vogue and of such small

FIG. 8.—GOLDEN LUSTRE PLATE (XVI. CENT.)