Large Antique Spanish Hispano-Moresque Lusterware Charger with Pardalot Bird, Manises (Valencia) circa 1700

Hispano-Moresque Lustreware Charger with a “Pardalot” Bird
Manises (Valencia), late 17th or early 18th century

Tin-glazed earthenware, decorated in copper lustre with a large central bird surrounded by stylised foliate motifs. The bird belongs to the so-called pardalot type, characterised by its small head, curved beak and elongated, undulating body filled with ornamental plumage.
The charger was produced at Manises, near Valencia, one of the principal centres of Hispano-Moresque lustreware.

Lustreware occupies an important place in the history of European ceramics. The technique originated in the Islamic world and was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule. By the late Middle Ages, lustreware produced in Málaga and subsequently in the Valencian region was exported throughout Europe, where its metallic surface and elaborate decoration were particularly prized. Manises developed into one of the principal centres of this production, supplying prestigious ceramics to aristocratic and wealthy urban households. Production continued after the celebrated fifteenth- and sixteenth-century period.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Manises potters developed a distinctive decorative vocabulary based on bold, freely rendered birds, plants and geometric motifs. The warmer, copper-toned lustre and lively execution seen here are characteristic of this later phase of production.

With its large scale and strongly defined central motif, the charger is a characteristic example of the continuing and evolving tradition of lustreware production at Manises.

• 42 centimeters diameter
• 10 centimeters deep