Set of three plates; Manises, XIX century.

Set of three plates; Manises, nineteenth century.
Ceramic.
Measurements: 3 x 30 cm (larger).
Set consists of three glazed ceramic dishes. Paterna was, together with Manises, the great center of Hispanic ceramics of Islamic influence, so it is not strange that this new style has its beginning here. The blue glaze used by the Chinese is cobalt, a high temperature glaze, so it is always applied under the glaze. In Islamic and Hispano-Muslim ceramics it will be called "alsafra", a word derived from the Arabic word for cobalt. In the last quarter of the 14th century it began to be used in Paterna, and gradually replaced in these potteries the series decorated with green and manganese style. From this moment on, the source of inspiration will no longer be Muslim ceramics, but Chinese porcelain. These are pieces with three firings: one for the paste, another for the white engobe and, finally, the third for the glaze, the colors and the glaze. The decoration, on the other hand, becomes more abstract, and in the case of pieces with figurative decoration this will have only half-body figures, with less defined backgrounds and a lesser spatial sense. They will be objects decorated with very linear lines.