A Group of Medieval Southern Spanish Islamic Cermaics

An interesting group of medieval Islamic influenced Spanish ceramics.

These ceramics were acquired in the early 1980s and were formerly in the collection of a retired archaeologist, who had worked in the Middle East and later settled in southern Spain.

The ceramics demonstrate a variety of decoration techniques of the period, including applied slip with an overglaze and ‘sgraffito’ technique, where the clay or slip is incised to produce a decoration which is then glazed over (see the last bowl). The same technique is found in medieval tiles of the period, both western and Islamic. The bowls include boteh and flower decorations characteristic of Islamic southern Spain of the period. They are all about 33 cm in diameter, which I assume was a standard size for such pieces and I believe date from between the 14th and 16th centuries.

For more detailed photos please visit www.kilim.ie or www.tribal-art.org