16th/17th.Century Hispano Moresque lustreware charger decorated with a copper lustre technique on a cream ground, featuring a stylised bird to the centre, 40cm diameter, 9cm high. Repaired cracks throughout. Spanish, Valencia or Manises.
Hispano Moresque lustreware, is a type of initially Islamic pottery created in Muslim Spain by Moorish potters. The Moors introduced tin-glazed pottery to Spain after their conquest of 718. Valencia, Barcelona and Malaga became important centres of Hispano-Moresque pottery production. By the 13th century lustre-painted pottery was primarily made at Malaga by Moorish Muslim artists. The history of lustre painted pottery in Spain can be divided into two major periods: the first before the Reconquista, and the second after the Reconquista, when at the end of the 15th century, Muslims were deported to North Africa. Nevertheless, a great number of Muslims converted to Christianity, and thereby permitted to stay in Spain, continuing to make pottery in the Islamic style.