A rare Hispano-Moresque lustre vase, Spain, Valencia, circa 1400-25

In the fifteenth century, the production of lustreware in the region of Valencia reached peak quality, its wares traded all around the Mediterranean. The appreciation for Valencian lustreware was such that Venice and Bruges both abolished import taxes on such ceramics, and Spanish lustreware was used at every noble and royal court of Europe (Ray 2000, p.58). Although most such wares are attributed to the workshops of Manises, it is plausible that other centres of production developed in the wider Valencian region, not limiting the production to just one site (Ray 2000, p.58 and Caiger-Smith 1985, p.100).

The shape of this vessel, with a bulbous body and four handles, is rare since most of the wares from the period survive in the form of dishes, bowls and albarelli. In a list of lustreware ordered by a royal household in 1454 are mentioned "vases for flowers with two lustred handles", probably something similar to the current piece (Ray 2000, p.60). Five comparable vases have survived – four in the British Museum (inv. nos.G597, G599, G602, G596) and another offered in these rooms (14 October 1999, lot 114). They all have the same bulbous body and four handles, and their dimensions vary between 16.5cm (inv. no.G599) and 23cm. (inv. no.G602). The foot is usually spreading and the inner rim is usually decorated with a band of roundels or with a dotted scales motif. Along with chevron and arabesques motifs, they often feature a bands with alafias. The alafia pattern consists of “a calligraphic motif of ‘circular accent’ over an ‘alpha’ on its side; the Arabic word means ‘health and happiness’”(Ray 2000, p.401). Two examples in the British Museum (inv. nos.G602 and G596) also bear the same motif.