Publication Date
Ninth/fifteenth century
Publication Place
-
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Museums
Subject
Glazed white quartz paste, decorated in the dry rope style (cuerda seca).
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
10.5 سم X 10.5 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
1883.32.h
Record ID
object;ISL;uk;Mus04;50;ar
Library Location
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Museums
Date
Ninth/fifteenth century
Notes
A multi-coloured wall tile decorated with an interlaced geometric pattern, with thin layers of white, honey-brown, dark brown and light copper green, separated by well-defined unglazed borders, known as cuerda seca, which means dry rope in Spanish. The rope means the unglazed borders separating the blocks of color shapes that make up the pattern. The dry rope technique involves gently pressing the molded pattern onto the surface of the clay, then covering the edges and boundaries of the pattern with a mixture of manganese oxide and oil to prevent the different color layers from overlapping. After completing the application of the oily substance and the colored layers of white lead, the slab is exposed to fire. As the colored layers melt into the texture of the tile and harden, the oily mixture fades away, leaving behind a clearly defined, unglazed 'rope' line surrounding the entire component of the design. Toledo was reconquered by the Christians in AH 477 / AD 1085, but the geometric designs of the Mudéjar remained popular, and continued to be used in decoration in many areas of architecture, both religious and secular, until the beginning of the 10th century / sixteenth.
Sample Text
Noorah Al-Gailani, Noorah Al-Gailani "Wall slab" in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;50;ar
