earliest mention of it, says Riaño, occurs in 1560, in a manuscript
history of this town, while another notice, dated 1576, says that here
was produced "fine white glazed earthenware and other pottery, which
supplied the country, part of Portugal, and India." More explicit are
the observations of Father Alonso de Ajofrín, who wrote, in 1651, a
history of Talavera. He says that "her pottery is as good as that of
Pisa, while quantities of _azulejos_ are made here to adorn the front of
altars, churches, gardens, alcoves, saloons, and bowers, and large and
small specimens of every kind. Two hundred workmen work at eight
separate kilns. Four other kilns produce the commoner kinds of ware. Red
porous clay vessels and drinking-cups are baked in two other kilns in a
thousand shapes to imitate birds and other creatures; also
_brinquiños_ for the use of ladies, so deliciously flavoured that after
drinking the water they contained, they eat the cup in which it was
brought them."
[Illustration: LXVIII
DISH
(_Andalusian non-lustred ware in the_ Cuerda seca _style.
A.D. 1480-1495. Osma Collection_)]
The following most interesting notice relating to this town is also
quoted by Riaño: "The earthenware pottery made here has reached a great
perfection; it is formed of white and red clay. Vases, cups, _bucaros_
and _brinquiños_ are made of different kinds, dishes and table centres,
and imitations of snails, owls, dogs, and every kind of fruits, olives,
and almonds. These objects are painted with great perfection, and the
imitations of porcelain brought from the Portuguese Indies are most
excellent. Everyone is surprised that in so small a town such excellent
things should be made. The varnish used for the white pottery is made
with tin and sand, and is now found to be more acceptable than coloured
earthenware; so much so, that persons of importance who pass by this
town, although they have in their houses dinner-services of silver, buy
earthenware made at Talavera, on account of its excellence. The sand
which was used to make the white varnish was brought from Hita, and is
now found at Mejorada, near Talavera. This sand is as fine and soft as
silk.
"The red pottery made at Talavera is much to be commended, for besides
the great variety of objects, and the different medals which they place
upon them, they have invented some small _brinquiños_ of so small and
delicate a kind, that the ladies wear them. Rosaries are also made of
the same material. A certain scent is added in the manufacture of this
pottery which excites the appetite and taste of the women, who eat the
pottery so frequently that it gives great trouble to their confessors to
check this custom."
[Illustration: LXIX
AN _ALFARERÍA_ OR POTTER'S YARD
(_Granada_)]
This porous pottery for keeping water cool had been imported from
America, and was chiefly made in Andalusia, Portugal, and Extremadura.
It is still produced at Andujar and elsewhere. Nearly all travellers in
Spain describe it, and insist upon the curious circumstance that it was
eaten by the Spanish women. "I have mentioned elsewhere," wrote Countess
d'Aulnoy, "the longing many women feel to chew this clay, which often
obstructs their bodies internally. Their stomachs swell, and grow as
hard as stone, while their skin turns yellow as a quince. I also felt a
curiosity to taste this ware, that is so highly yet so undeservedly
esteemed; but I would devour a grindstone rather than put it in my mouth
again. Nevertheless, if one wants to be agreeable to the Spanish ladies,
one has to present them with some _bucaros_, which they themselves call
_barros_, and which, as many deem, possess such numerous and admirable
qualities, since they claim for the clay that it cures sickness, and
that a drinking vessel made of it betrays the presence of a poison. I
possess one which spoils the taste of wine, but greatly improves water.
This liquid seems to boil and tremble when it is thrown into the cup in
question; but after a little while the vessel empties--so porous is the
clay of which it is composed--and then it has a fragrant odour."
Similar accounts are given by travellers of a later time. "I wish,"
wrote Swinburne, "I could contrive a method of carrying you some of the
fine earthen jars, called _buxaros_, which are made in Andalusia. They
are remarkably convenient for water-drinkers, as they are light, smooth,
and handy; being not more than half-baked, they are very porous, and the
outside is kept moist by the water's filtering through; though placed in
the sun, the water in the pots remains as cold as ice. The most
disagreeable circumstance attending them is, that they emit a smell of
earth refreshed by a sudden shower after a long drought."[92]
[92] _Travels through Spain_; p. 305. Swinburne could have been no
lover of nature to speak in such terms of the smell of earth.
Laborde, who wrote a few years later, seems to have copied some of his
information from Bowles. "The Murcians," he said, "use in their houses
little jars called _Bucaros_, the same as those which in some parts of
Andalusia are called Alcarrazas.[93] They have handles open at the top,
are smaller at the bottom than above, and bulge in the middle; they are
slight, porous, smooth, and half-baked; they are made of a peculiar kind
of clay. When water is put into them, they emit a smell like that sent
up by the earth after a shower of rain in summer. The water makes its
way very slowly through the pores, and keeps them constantly moist on
the outside; they are used to cool water for drinking. The windows and
balconies of all the houses have large iron rings, with a flat surface,
on which they are placed at night, and the water, oozing incessantly,
becomes very cool.[94] In Andalusia some of these jars are white, and
others red; in Murcia they have only white ones. They appear to be in
every respect of the same nature as the evaporating vases of Africa,
Egypt, Syria, and India, of which so much has been said by travellers,
and on which the learned have made so many dissertations."
[93] One of the prettiest of the popular Spanish _coplas_ has the
_alcarraza_ for its theme;--
"Alcarraza de tu casa
chiquilla, quisiera ser,
para besarte los labios
cuando fueras á beber."
"Dearest, I would be the _alcarraza_ in your house; so should I
kiss your lips each time you drank from me."
[94] Laborde's translator adds: "These jars are very common in Jamaica;
they are of different sizes, from a pint to three pints. A number
of them are ranged at night in the balconies, to furnish a supply
of cool water. Coolers of a similar kind have been lately
introduced in England."
The same vessels are noticed by Ford in his description of a Spanish
_posada_. "Near the staircase downstairs, and always in a visible place,
is a gibbous jar, _tinaja_, of the ancient classical amphora shape,
filled with fresh water; and by it is a tin or copper utensil to take
water out with, and often a row of small pipkins, made of a red porous
clay,[95] which are kept ready filled with water, on, or rather in, a
shelf fixed to the wall, and called _la tallada, el taller_. These
pots, _alcarrazas_, from the constant evaporation, keep the water
extremely cool. They are of various shapes, many, especially in Valencia
and Andalusia, being of the unchanged identical form of those similar
clay drinking-vessels discovered at Pompeii. They are the precise
_trulla_. Martial speaks both of the colour and the material of those
made at Saguntum, where they still are prepared in great quantities;
they are not unlike the _ckool'lehs_ of Egypt, which are made of the
same material and for the same purposes, and represent the ancient
Canobic [Greek: statika]. They are seldom destined to be placed on the
table; their bottoms being pointed and conical, they could not stand
upright. This singular form was given to the _vasa futilia_, or cups
used at the sacrifices of Vesta, which would have been defiled had they
touched the ground. As soon, therefore, as they are drunk off, they are
refilled and replaced in their holes on the shelf, as is done with
decanters in our butlers' pantries."[96]
[95] "Those of the finest quality," adds Ford, "are called _Bucaros_;
the best come from South America--the form is more elegant, the
clay finer, and often sweet-scented; many women have a trick of
biting, even eating bits of them."
[96] _Handbook_; Vol. I., p. 26.
I am only aware of one author who derides the statement that this porous
clay was eaten by the Spanish women. According to Bowles, who certainly
describes and comments on it with intelligence and scholarship, the
neighbourhood of Andujar contains "large quantities of the white argil
of which are made the jars or _alcarrazas_ which serve in many parts of
Spain for cooling water in the summer-time. In other parts of Andalusia
is found a red variety of this clay, employed in making the vessels
known as _búcaros_, which serve to freshen the water as well as for
drinking it out of--a thing the Spanish ladies love greatly. Both the
white _alcarrazas_ and the _búcaros_ as red as the blood of a bull are
thin, porous, smooth, and half-baked. When filled with water they emit a
pleasant smell like that of dry earth rained upon in summer, and as the
water filters through the outer surface, remain continually damp." The
same writer adds that at that time (1752) the _búcaros_ proceeding from
the Indies were of finer workmanship, and had a more agreeable smell
than those of Spanish manufacture. "In the Encyclopædia," he continues,
"and in the Dictionary of Natural History, we read that Spanish ladies
are for ever chewing _búcaro_, and that the hardest penance their
confessors can inflict upon them is to deprive them for a single day of
this enjoyment." Bowles, however, quotes these observations in a
scornful tone, and deprecates the habit of "believing writers who
without inquiring into things, concoct and publish novels to divert the
populace and rid them of their money."
Turning our attention once again to the finer kinds of Talavera ware,
Gestoso adduces proofs that this as well as Chinese porcelain was
faultlessly and freely imitated in the potteries of Seville. Here,
therefore, is a source of fresh confusion; and probably a great
proportion of the polychrome ware which goes by the name of Talaveran is
really of Sevillian origin. It is further known that at one period,
which seems to begin with the second half of the sixteenth century,
potters who were natives of Talavera were hired to work in Seville.
[Illustration: LXX
TALAVERA VASE]
It has not been ascertained when Talavera herself grew celebrated for
this industry. García Llansó supposes that at first, before it felt the
influence of Italy and France, her pottery was partly Mudejar, and
vestiges of oriental art survive in fairly late examples. The
characteristic colour-scheme was either blue on white, or else the
decoration is more variegated. Riaño says:--"Although we find by the
remarks we have quoted from contemporary authors that earthenware of
every description was made at Talavera, the specimens which are more
generally met with may be divided into two groups, which are painted on
a white ground, either in blue, or in colours, in the manner of Italian
maiolica. The most important examples which have reached us consist of
bowls of different sizes, dishes, vases (Plate lxx.), _tinajas_,
holy-water vessels, medicine jars, and wall decoration. Blue oriental
china was imitated to a vast extent: the colouring was successful, but
the design was an imitation of the baroque school of the time, and the
figures, landscapes, and decoration follow the bad taste so general in
Spain in the eighteenth century. The imitations of Italian maiolica are
effective. The colours most commonly used are manganese, orange, blue,
and green."
Talavera maintained her reputation for pottery till nearly the middle of
the eighteenth century, supporting more than six hundred workmen
employed in eight large potteries.[97] From then onwards the trade
declined, and by the close of the same century was practically dead,
owing, Larruga tells us, to the constantly increasing cost of prime
materials. Nevertheless, the Crown made efforts to revive the craft, and
met with some success till 1777, in which year four establishments
(locally known as _barrerías_) for making common pottery were opened in
the same town, and speedily crushed their rivals. "The potteries of
Talavera," wrote Laborde soon after this, "were greatly celebrated for
many years, and supplied a lucrative and important branch of commerce.
They are evidently on the decline. The manufactories are reduced to
seven or eight. These productions no longer exhibit the same delicacy of
execution. Their designs are also lamentably defective. The material
employed in them is a certain earth which is found near Calera, three
leagues from Talavera."
[97] "On y fait," wrote Alvarez de Colmenar, "des ouvrages vernissés
d'une façon ingénieuse, avec des peintures variées de bon goût; on
estime ces ouvrages autant que ceux de Pise et des Indes
Orientales, et on en fournit plusieurs provinces. Ce négoce rend
plus de cinquante mille ducats par an."--_Annales d'Espagne et de
Portugal_; Vol. II., p. 187. This work is dated 1740, but my copy
is reprinted from another edition published earlier in the century.
The older Talavera ware, decorated, as a rule, with horses, birds,
hunting-scenes, or coats of arms, is seldom met with nowadays. Although
it is not particularly choice, the drawing is firm, and the colouring
vigorous and agreeable.
I have said that pottery continued to be made in Aragon, at Muel,
Villafeliche, and other places. In course of time these local
industries were also suffered to decay. Laborde says that early in the
nineteenth century the Villafeliche factory employed thirty-eight
workmen. "The ware is of a very inferior sort. This article might be
carried to a greater extent. In several parts of the province, earth is
found of an excellent quality for earthenware, particularly in Zaragoza
and in Tauste; the latter affords the best, which is very fine, and of
three colours, and would answer for the making of porcelain."
In the eighteenth century Toledo, upon the initiative of Don Ignacio
Velasco, produced good imitations of Genoese ware, while other kinds of
pottery were made at Teruel, Valladolid, Jaen, Zamora, Segovia, Puente
del Arzobispo, and in the Balearic Islands. Another region which
continued to be a most important centre of the potter's craft was
Cataluña, where it had always been encouraged by this thrifty and
art-loving people. As early as the year 1257 two potters occupied a
place upon the municipal council of Barcelona, while the potters' guild
was strictly regulated from the beginning of the fourteenth century.[98]
At the same time two whole streets in the centre of the town, as well
as others in the suburbs, were occupied by potters. The ancient names of
these streets are yet retained in the Calles Escudillers, Escudillers
Blancs (white varnished pottery), Obradors (where many of the potteries
were situated), and Tallers (_i.e._ the potteries for producing common
ware).
[98] For a sketch of the origin and growth of the Spanish trade guilds,
see Appendix H.
The pottery of Cataluña generally was largely exported to Sicily,
Alexandria, and other parts. Among the places in this region which
produced it were Tarragona, Tortosa, and Villafranca. In 1528 the
municipal council of the capital herself forbade, as a protective
measure, the introduction into Barcelona of local pottery made at
Malgrat, La Selva, and other towns and villages of this neighbourhood.
In 1546 the Portuguese Barreyros declared in his work _Chorografía de
algunos lugares_ that the Barcelona ware surpassed all other classes
made in Spain, including the Valencian. She continued to produce good
pottery all through the sixteenth century, and excellent common ware
until considerably later.[99]
[99] _Historia General del Arte._--Vol. II.: _Cerámica_, by García
Llansó.
About the beginning of the eighteenth century Laborde mentioned as
working centres of this craft "manufactories of delf-ware at Avilés,
Gijón, Oviedo, Nava, and Cangas de Onis, in the Asturias; at Segovia in
Old Castile; at Puente del Arzobispo and Talavera de la Reina in New
Castile; at Seville in the kingdom of that name; at Villafeliche in
Aragon; at Onda, Alcora, and Manises, in the kingdom of Valencia; at San
Andero in Biscay; and at Tortosa in Cataluña.... The most important of
these potteries is the one at Alcora, the delf of which is tolerably
fine, though not of the first quality. No china is made, except at
Alcora and Madrid: that of the former place is very common, and
inconsiderable as to quantity. The china manufactured at Madrid is
beautiful, and without exaggeration may be considered as equalling that
of Sèvres. It is a royal pottery; but it is impossible to give any
description of its state, because admission to the interior of the
manufactory is strictly prohibited."
Ricord states in his pamphlet relative to Valencian industries that in
1791 factories of high-class pottery were working in the kingdom of
Valencia, at Onda, Alcora, Ribesalves, Manises, Eslida, and Bechí; and
of common ware at San Felipe, Morella, Manises, Murviedro, Alicante,
Moncada, Orihuela, Segorbe, and other towns and villages of this
locality. In all, there were throughout the province eighty-seven of
these latter potteries, besides two hundred and twenty tileries, and
four factories of artistic tiles or _azulejos_ established at Valencia.
The yearly output of these _azulejerias_ was 150,000 tiles, 20,000 of
which were exported to Andalusia and Castile.
Although the pottery of Alcora only achieved distinction at a later age,
this craft had long been practised in the neighbourhood. This
circumstance induced the Count of Aranda to found here, in 1726, a large
factory for producing costly and artistic ware. Riaño obtained
permission to examine the archives of the family of Aranda, with their
mass of documents relating to this enterprise. His notice of Alcora ware
is therefore most complete and valuable, and has been copied, frequently
without acknowledgment, by almost every writer on the subject.
It appears from these archives that the cost of building and opening the
factory of Alcora amounted to about £10,000. The works were placed
beneath the supervision of Don Joaquín Joseph de Sayas, at the same time
that a Frenchman named Ollery was engaged at a good salary and brought
from Moustiers to act as principal draughtsman. A couple of years later
Count Aranda paid Ollery the high compliment of saying that "the fine
and numerous models which he has designed, have contributed to make my
manufacture the first in Spain." He seems to have retired in 1737, when
the Count rewarded him with a yearly pension of five hundred francs
besides the amount of his salary, "for his especial zeal in the
improvement of the manufactory, and his great skill in directing the
construction of every kind of work." Riaño adds that from this date
until the manufacture of porcelain in 1764, only Spanish artists worked
at Alcora.
The products of this factory continued to improve, and reached, in
course of time, a yearly total of about three hundred thousand objects.
The ordinances, which are dated between 1732 and 1733, tell us that "in
these works of ours no pottery should be made except the very finest,
similar to the Chinese, and of as fine an earth. The models and wheels
should be perfect, the drawing first-rate, the varnish and colours
excellent, and the pottery light and of the highest quality, for it is
our express wish that the best pottery should only be distinguished
from that of an inferior kind by the greater or less amount of painting
which covers it."
Not less interesting are certain communications, copied by Riaño, which
passed in 1746 between the Spanish Tribunal of Commerce and the Count of
Aranda, in which it is stated that "the perfection of the earthenware of
Alcora consists in the excellent models which have been made by
competent foreign artists, as well as in the quality of the earth and
the recipes brought at great cost from abroad." We learn from the same
document that "from the earliest period of the manufacture, pyramids
with figures of children, holding garlands of flowers and baskets of
fruits on their heads, were made with great perfection; also brackets,
centre and three-cornered tables, large objects, some as large as five
feet high, to be placed upon them, chandeliers, cornucopias, statues of
different kinds, and animals of different sorts and sizes. The entire
ornamentation of a room has also been made here; the work is so perfect
that nothing in Spain, France, Italy, or Holland could equal it in
merit."
It is not necessary to follow in close detail all the modifications and
vicissitudes (extending over quite a hundred years) which affected the
Alcora factory. I therefore only take some general notices from Riaño.
In 1750 Count Aranda transferred the works to a private company, which
remained in possession of them until 1766. In 1741 a Frenchman named
François Haly was engaged for ten years, and with a yearly salary of
rather more than a thousand francs, under the following conditions:--
"That the travelling expenses of his wife and children should be given
him, and that his salary should be paid as soon as he made before the
Director and two competent judges the different kinds of porcelain which
he had undertaken to make." Haly agreed to surrender his recipes, and it
was promised him that he should have two modellers and one painter
working by his side, and that if in one year his porcelain were
satisfactory, the Count would make him a present of a thousand
_tornoises_.[100]
[100] Riaño; _Handbook_; pp. 182, 183.
Porcelain was first produced at Alcora towards the middle of the
eighteenth century. A contract was drawn up on March 24th, 1764, with a
German called John Christian Knipfer, who had already worked there in
the pottery section. By the original agreement, which exists in the
archives, we find he was to prepare works of "porcelain and painting
similar to those made at Dresden, during a period of six years, under
the following conditions:--
"That the said Knipfer obliges himself to make and teach the apprentices
the composition and perfection of porcelain paste, its varnishes, and
colours, and whatever he may know at the present time, or discover
during this period of six years; he is not to prevent the Director of
the Works from being present at all the essays made.
"The said Knipfer offers to make and varnish porcelain, and to employ
gold and silver in its decoration, and in that of the ordinary wares;
likewise the colours of crimson, purple, violet, blues of different
shades, yellow, greens, browns, reds, and black.
"That Knipfer will give up an account of his secrets, and the management
and manner of using them, in order that in all times the truth of what
he has asserted may be verified."
[Illustration: LXXI
ORNAMENT IN PORCELAIN OF THE BUEN RETIRO]
In 1774 a Frenchman named François Martin was engaged to make "hard
paste porcelain, Japanese faïence, English paste (pipeclay), and
likewise to mould and bake it: the necessary materials to be provided
by the Count of Aranda." Riaño says that the combined assistance of
Knipfer and Martin went far to better the products of the factory.