Plate 5 - a start

Started plate 5 over the weekend.

That is to say, started the front of plate 5.
Originally this plate was to be the prize of the A&S competition for Winterfeast.
So I completed the back (not entirely happy with it but I'll discuss that later) and was going to finish the front the way the winner wanted.

However the winner won with the Annual Winterfeast table decorating competition. Which in this case, was a household effort. So I'm going to make her a 15th cenury platter rather than the 16th c Spanish ones I've done so far. I've been researching alot as 1400-1450 isn't very specific. She's chosen a design and I'll start it once I've finished plate 5.

Since I have no real purpose for this plate, apart from skill development,  I thought I'd pick a simple design to get it out of the way. My pride in my work however won't let me make it too simple (like a brace of artichokes). I really liked the not-kiwi (below) but since it's a small bowl of 19cm I don't think it'll translate too well into a plate. So I went with a rather nice flamingo (or wading bird or ibis) pattern. I like it. I think I'll make a smaller bowl with the not-kiwi on it too.

not-a-kiwi bowl - Muel, Aragon, Spain 1550-1610

HRM Constanzia Moralez y de Zamora’s Plate

Constanzia’s plate is the third one I’ve ever completed. The most important constraint upon the design was it had to be appropriate for her persona. Preferably, it should also look similar to the one made for Gabriel. I chose for this plate the only other blue on white plate fitting my “16^thC, Spanish, Plate” search in Victoria and Albert museum (Figure 1). This dish is slightly simpler than the one made for Gabriel as the original has more solid fill shapes. The original comes from Seville or Valencia between 1550 and 1600. I think a significant part of the appeal of this plate is the llama in the centre. I eventually replaced the Llama with Constanzia’s device which is: Gules, a cross of Staniago, on a chief argent three crescents sable. Goto say, those crescents are a pain to paint. There is no image of the back of this plate in the V&A database.

Figure 1: The original: a tin-glazed earthernware dish with a height of 9.1cm and diameter of 47.3cm from Seville or Valencia between 1550 and 1600. (V&A)

Figure 2 shows the result of my labours. I rather like this plate because I’ve managed to replicate the key features of the original dish (the odd tulip shaped flowers). I think I was more successful balancing heavy features with thin background detail on this plate than I was with Gabriels.

Figure 2: Constanzia’s plate. The third I’ve ever painted.

I deliberately made some of the features not quite as skewed as in the original. There is a splodge visible in the original above the llama’s head which appears to be caused by dripping glaze. I’m lucky that by using three separate coats of glaze, I can avoid the slumping that would occur with a thick, single application. I’ve yet to decide if my lack of stroke marks is a good thing or a bad (Figure 3). I prefer solid fill shapes, however I know I’m not being true to the period example. In this case there appears to be no intentional shading so the lack of stroke marks is negligible.

Figure 3: a) Detail of the original dish showing stroke marks in the glaze and complicated background fill.

Instead of the central Llama, I had a choice: I could replicate Constanzia’s charge in blue or I could use her entire device. The first option would be fitting with the period examples (Figure 4) where a majority of devices and figures are in the base colour of the plate. In the end, I decided to use her full device as this plate is ment to be used in the SCA and we have the 2 points of difference rule for a reason.  Due to her chosen colours, the device does stand out significantly but I rather like it.

As there is no image of the back of the original dish I found an image of a back of a dish of comparable quality and used it as the basis for the back of Stanzi’s plate. Figure 5 shows the rear of a dish made in Manises in the middle of the 16^th century. It has many of the common features being leaf/feather decorations around the rim with circular fill as well as circular highlights and a spiderweb type fill in the centre of the base. I took some liberties when copying this design (Figure 6). I made the assumption that the dark lines on the rim are evidence of wear as the leaf design appears to continue under the brown.  I also made some of the line work thicker and didn’t replicate some of the thinner ones. This is partly due to the shape of the bisque ware I’m working with and partly due to the fact fine circles are difficult when you have to go over them three times. I really liked the stippled circles in the middle of the spider web, so I replicated them. I quite like how the leaf border on Constanzia’s plate turned out.

Figure 5: The back of a tin glazed earthenware dish from Manises, mid 16^th century. Height 6.1 cm, diameter 40.4 cm.

Figure 6: The back of Constanzia’s plate.

HRM Gabriel de Beaumont’s Plate

Their majesties were visiting for Winterfeast 2011 for which I was the steward and head cook. I decided to base the event on 1560 because I have a vague memory of that date being on the frocks Constanzia had chosen for this reign. So, wanting to make them appropriate eating wear for the event I made some plates!

First up is Gabriel’s plate. I patterned it off Figure 1. I started by searching Victoria and Albert museum online database of images for “Spanish, 16thc, Plate” and brought up a massive database of images. I wanted to replicate an example of a plate with a heraldic crest in the centre. HRM Gabriel’s device is: Per pale sable and azure, a pair of wings and a bordure argent. A plate fitting with the wings theme would be nice.

I chose the plate in Figure 1 because it was one of the few blue on white examples I could find. It also had interesting elongate blobs that I could convert to wing shapes. The plate was made in either Seville or Valencia between 1525-1550. I rather liked the pomegranates as well, as this is the symbol Constanzia had chosen for her guard to wear.

Figure 1: Reference plate used for Gabriel de Beaumont’s plate.  Made in Seville or Valencia between 1525-1550. (V&A)

Figure 2 is the result of my work. It took in excess of 40 hours to paint and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Major changes to the plate include switching the elongate blobs for wings and the tone of the blue utilised (unfortunately, this is the darkest blue available to me).  It is only as I write this that I realise that I left out the border argent on his device. Damn. I’m unhappy the plate isn’t as perfect as I wanted.

Figure 2: The front of Gabriel de Beaumont’s plate. The three sections, inner crest, inner circle and outer border, are isolated by solid borders of blue. 

The plate has three sections, inner crest, inner circle and outer border. The inner circle was completed first. Though I was as careful as possible in applying the three layers of glaze, some of the larger shapes, such as the wings and the inner crest are a little patchy. The inner circle and the outer border both have the same background fill, however the inner circle concentrates on floral designs while a majority of the outer border features swirls. Figure 3 shows some of the detail of the inner circle which features pomegranates. You can see at the base of the flower, near the leaves, I couldn’t resist putting in a small ant. A small vanity, it’s the only ant on the plate. Compared to the original (Figure 4), I think the features of the inner circle, i.e. the flower and the pomegranates needed thicker lines to highlight them above the complicated background fill. As I’m still new at this, I’m having trouble balancing the images using line thickness.

Figure 3: Inner circle detail of Gabriel de Beaumont’s plate showing a double pomegranate and flower with floral background fill.

Figure 4: Inner circle detail in the original plate. The application of the glaze isn’t smooth and the pomegranates appear to have been made lumpy as an afterthought.

As can be seen in Figure 5, the back of this plate is very simple. This is mostly because I painted the back first before I had chosen a design. There is no image of the back of Figure 1 in V&A and while I was painting I didn’t have any images of the back of other plates so was working from memory. The design is a very simple leaf design. I have noticed that the more complicated period examples have very complicated backgrounds, while simple plates have simple backgrounds. They all, however, have leaf and floral designs. So, a simple back with a complex front doesn’t represent the medieval standards. I’m afraid I also made my makers mark a little too prominent on this plate.

Figure 5: The back of Gabriel de Beaumont’s plate. A simple leaf pattern decorates the base.

Awesome find!

I found this while researching my next plate!

http://diccionario.ceramicsbensu.es/en/

An illustrated ceramic dictionary with a focus on Majolica.
I'm already inspired.

thoughts

Some questions have been bugging me:

• How do you make Sun yellow glaze?
• Why does it appear that the Spanish don't utilise it for plates however the Italians do.
• Is this a matter of supply?
• Are the Spanish lagging behind the technology / fashionable curve or are they ahead of it?
• Are the marks in the center of the base makers marks or workshop marks as I suspect? (i think i'll look into that, and see how many individual marks i can distinguish - reverse engineer the determination of origination or something)
• What is the relationship between the backs, is it a progression over time from simple lines, to simple leaves, to complex leaves? Why leaves and circles? Perhaps the progression relates more to the front of the work, the more complex (and therefore more expensive the item) the better the artwork on the back? Maybe it relates to style of the ceramic. Plain for plates, fancy for the tazza's where the underside will be seen.

1st Plate

 Isn’t it pretty?

Motifs and decoration:

I created this plate partly for the Winterfeast event. The theory was that I’d make one for each of the household with their device in the centre. Unfortunately only Rohan has a registered device and since he lives with me, he can paint his own! I’ll get to the rest, they’re just not at the top of the list currently. The badge for Exortis Solaris (our household) is a eight pointed star with NE, SE, SW and NW points being curved, i.e. a rising sun. Over this is a sword. I used figure 1 as my main inspiration and changed some of the arms of the star to be straight.

Figure 1: Dish, made in Triana, Spain, 1525-1550, tin-glazed earthenware with lustre decoration (V&A)

The back fill is not an exact replication as I’m still developing my skill with the brush. The dots and line work came out well however the floral section isn’t true to form and looks sparse on my plate.

For the inner band I took inspiration from another dish made in Triana (Figure 2). The band on the first plate sort of looks like calligraphy and I’d prefer not to have random things I don’t understand written on my work. Also, I prefer the look of the band on the second plate.

Figure 2: Inner Band decoration from a dish, made in Triana, Spain, 1525-1550, tin-glazed earthenware with lustre decoration

Colours:

Close inspection of my 1^st plate will show some streaky brown below the colours. Most of the 16^th cenurary Spanish plates I’ve examined are in glazed in earth tones. This is probably due to availability. The porcelain is also a creamy colour. two theories for this: darkening and discolouration over time or the original clay wasn’t as white as the items available to me. I suspect it’s a combination of the two. It’s going to be hard to tell until I find a broken or chipped image which’ll reveal the clay underneath. To replicate the tan stain I wiped the plate down with tan glaze (no. 4). It wasn’t very successful as you can see from Figure 3, the back of the plate, the glaze is very streaky. In future I’ll skip this step.

I was trying to get the right blue and yellow tones from the Spanish (?) Tazza previously undocumented. The blue has turned out wonderfully while the yellow remains splodgy. I think this is the result of covering large areas with paint. By the third coat you can’t tell if the brush is transferring glaze or just wetting the existing glaze. All in all, happy with the result and would love to see a full table setting for my household like this.

Figure 3: The back of my plate showing the streaky underglaze.

The Process

I haven’t made anything ceramic since my primary school days of creating coil pots and other things I proudly presented to my mother. Since I’m not totally insane* I’ve decided that I’m not going to start by making plates, instead I’m starting with the decoration. This is probably motivated by the fact I’m a little girlie and I want pretty things with a minimum of effort. It’s also wise to concentrate on developing one skill at a time. That and I don’t have the equipment, though I suspect I could borrow my grandfathers old stuff anytime I liked.

I happen to have a place called Glaze It (http://www.glazeit.com.au/) just down the road. I wheeze my way past their shop every other morning on my bi-daily jog so I’ve been contemplating this for some time. Run by a very nice couple, they provide pottery of various forms and enamel paints and you create your master piece. While a majority of their customers produce items reminiscent of my coil pots, there are also some very talented artists who drop by monthly to make amazing things. They provide 29 different colours (30 if you include white which is naked plate) and tell you that to get a strong colour you need three layers of paint, one will look like watercolour and two just looks splotchy. You paint your item, hand it over for firing and come back in a week for your beautiful item.

So, the first few items are going to be working on my skill with a paintbrush (limited) and researching a lot more ceramic designs.

New words for my vocabulary:

Bisque: Pottery that has been fired buy not yet glazed. Also known as biscuit. Items are very hard yet still porous.

Greenware: Unfired pottery, typically air dried. Rather fragile.

*Really I’m not. I have a certificate that says so!

(un)Documenting a 16th century Spanish plate:

Background:

I am stewarding the Barony of Stormhold’s annual Winterfeast. In honour of their Majesties Gabriel de Beaumont and Constanzia Moralez y de Zamora. The theme is 1560, specifically the island of Djerba during Philip II of Spain’s reign. The feast will feature a number of A&S competitions as well as a themed tourney for heavy and rapier fighters. I wanted to make a 16^th century plate for the overall winner of the A&S competitions. So I started where most people do: Google images. I trawled through and found the perfect item, a Spanish Tazza (Figure 1). Not only can the pattern be altered to be a compass rose (highly event appropriate), it’s also simple yet pretty. I then continued my search as I also planned on making plates for the royal couple and my household. A couple of hours of trawling through Victoria and Albert museum’s online image database later and I had unfortunately undocumented my plate. What follows is an simple analysis of the dominate trends within the Spanish 16^th century ceramics of the V&A museum. Specifically, I examined use of colour, background fills and symbolism.

Figure 1. The Spanish plate in question. Sourced from Guest and Gray, antique porcelain and ceramics dealers based in England. The blurb states "Majolica Tazza Ref: N545. Majolica tazza, early 16th century decorated with a geometric design, the central roundel with a pointed star, the outer band with smaller stars with adjacent stylized leaves intersperse with cross-hatching ; diameter: 10 1/4in. 26cm. Condition: Three hair cracks and chip restored and a small missing portion to the rim.“ G&G were asking £750.00 for the item. (http://www.chinese-porcelain-art.com/acatalog/Catalogue_Spanish_Pottery_121.html Accessed 25/3/2011).

Colours:

The Spanish plate displays imagery picked out in sun yellow and medium blue. Of the samples available via V&A, four use a darker blue exclusively. Of the rest of the plates, most use red/orange/brown/gold shades rather than start sun yellow. The ceramics utilising blue use it to highlight moulded features, to outline shapes or for heraldic reasons. (Figure 2a, b, c).

Figure 2: a) Moulded leaf patterns highlighted with a strong blue, plate from Manises 1525-1560. b) Dish featuring a deer (?) outlined in blue made in Manises 1500-1525. c) Bowl from Manises or Mislata 1500 featuring heraldry picked out in blue. (V&A)

The only item with similar strength of yellow I could find was not in the Victoria and Albert museum but in the Ashmolean. In this item it is clear the yellow is used to pick out moulded features while the blue is utilised as a solid background fill. Three potential theories for the lack of similar items in V&A, first a collection bias with the museum curator preferentially selecting the more delicate patterns, second a selection bias as the V&A search terms specified plate rather than tazza and third, the Spanish Tazza is not in fact Spanish but Italian.

Figure 3: Plate decorated with oak branches and leaves moulded in relief with a coat of arms in the centre. Attributed to the 'painter of the so-called Della Rovere dishes', active in Urbino (ITALY) in the 1540s. (Accessed via http://www.artfund.org/artwork/5869/maiolica-dish on 25/3/2011)

Crosshatching / background fill:

The Spanish Tazza features background fill of two styles, mono-colour cross hatching and dual colour line fill. Of the 100 plates available via V&A a majority of the plates use a dot and line background fill and/or floral shapes (Figure 4). The dot and line fill typically features a solid ellipsoid radiating between 4 and 7 lines inward tripling the size of the symbol. This is the closest fill found for the lines however of the examples sampled, all were mono-colour.

Figure 4: Plate originating from Triana between 1525 and 1550 displaying a distinctive dot/line and floral background fills. (V&A)

Only four examples of crosshatching were found. The first two are enclosed border decorations (Figure 5a and b) and the second set are enclosed floral symbols, leaves and pomegranates respectively (Figure 6a and b).

Figure 5: a) Enclosed crosshatching on the border of a plate from Triana 1525-1550. b) Border of a plate featuring enclosed crosshatching, Valencia 1525-1560. (V&A)

 

Figure 6: a) Leaf shaped enclosed crosshatching on a plate from Manises 1525-1575. b) Pomegranate featuring crosshatching fill, plate from Seville or Valencia 1525-1550. (V&A)

Symbolism:

The Spanish Tazza is decorated with a geometric design featuring a central roundel with an 8 pointed star. There is nothing similar in the V&A collection. The closest to a plate dominated by a pointed star design is a singular dish. It features a nine pointed wave pattern which circles the central roundel (Figure 7). This dish, like much of the collection has a central roundel which is plain and displays a simple figure or heraldic symbol. The roundel is surrounded by line work and a band of outward strokes which have overtones of Latin calligraphy. The Spanish Tazza uses multiple lines in two shades of yellow to divide the roundel from the outer band.

Figure 7: Dish created in Triana between 1525-1550 featuring a 9 pointed wave / star pattern around the central roundel. (V&A)

The outer band of the Spanish Tazza features an outer band with smaller 8 armed stars with adjacent stylized leaves intersperse with cross-hatching. There are a number of popular stylistic trends when depicting leaves; elongate leaves, spiky leaves or a combination of the two usually moulded into the rim (Figure 8 a, b and c respectively). Less popular but still with multiple examples are the oak leaf shaped designs and the hollow leaf shapes through which the background fill is visible (Figure 9 a and b). None of the examples found in the V&S display a singular ovular leaf shape. Of the leaves examined, none are dual colour except the hollow examples (Figure 9b) which I believe are feature highlighting as discussed previously rather than leaves.

Figure 8: a) A dish made in Triana, Spain 1525-1550 featuring a leaf design with both floral and dot/line background fill. b) A dish made in Triana Spain 1500-1525 with a spiky leaf design. c) A dish from Reus crafted between 1575 and 1600 with a leaf shaped moulded and painted outer band. (V&A)

 

Figure 9: a) A dish made in Manises between 1525-1560, decorated with an oak leaf design. b) Dish made in Valencia featuring hollow leaf shapes the inside of which mirror the floral outer rim background fill pattern.(V&A)

Conclusions and discussion:

Upon examining the collection of 16^th century ceramics available online through the Victoria and Albert museum, I can successfully undocumented the features of the Spanish Tazza. There is no evidence for a similar level of the use of blue pigment nor is there any consistent use of the sun yellow colour. There are however, similar items to the Tazza produced in Italy suggesting this item has been mis-categorized. While there is evidence for crosshatching used as a background fill it is primarily utilized in closed shapes rather than in open sections as found on the Tazza. The style of both the star and leaf shapes cannot be found on any other item within the database of over 100 images. I suggest that this item is probably not a Spanish Tazza and may in fact be Italian. It is also possible that it is younger than advertised but to successfully conclude this I would need to research Italian ceramics and examine the rear of the plate which would hopefully provide more clues about its origin.