This beautiful albarello was made in a pottery workshop in Manises in the late 14th or early 15th century. Originally, vessels of this type were used to store valuable spices that were transported along the trade routes from the East to Moorish Spain. Resistant to odors and easy to close (with a tied cloth or parchment), they were later used as apothecary jars, particularly in Italy.



Albarellos were made in a cylindrical shape, with slightly concave walls.  Our albarello, finished in three colors, is divided into seven registers of varying widths, separated from one another by horizontal blue lines. The individual sections are decorated with geometrical patterns as well as arabesques in manganese brown and cobalt blue. The broad central register contains round, white and blue medallions that alternate with stylized Kufic script. The ornamentation on the registers below the neck ring and on the foot of the vessel also derive from Arabic characters.



Arabic script, often modified for aesthetic reasons, is the most frequently found and earliest decorative element in Arabic art. This is due to the great importance attached to

the script in Islamic culture. In the course of artistic developments in Islam, the script became merged with floral and geometrical ornaments to form one entity that can barely be divided into individual elements. The ornamentally modified script forms the basis of the stylistic decorative program on this albarello, too. A second stylistic principle is the endless repetition of the pattern, perfect for the ornamental decoration of cylindrically shaped vessels. The sequence of the decoration on the cylindrical vessel is especially interesting as it is comparable to that on one of the two columns at the Ulugh Beg Madrasa in Samarkand (1417–1420). The albarello’s design shows that the principles governing ornamentation in Islamic art could be applied to different genres.



Lusterware was probably first developed in the 9th century Persia and spread to Muslim Spain via Egypt. Muslim potters gained access to Christian cities such as Malaga, as well as Manises and Paterna near Valencia, along the trade routes. The talented craftsmen mastered an elaborate technique that was far superior to that practiced in the Western world. The recipe for lusterware making, consisting of two firings and using complex metallic glazes, was a well-kept secret of every family of manufacturers. Spanish Islamic lusterware was highly prized in Europe; the items were exported as far south as Sicily and as far north as northern Germany. Lusterware was considered a status symbol and works were commissioned and collected not only by the great houses of Spain but also by other European noblemen, such as the Duke of Burgundy and the Medicis of Florence. A wonderful example of the appreciation of the 14th century Spanish lusterware can be seen in the Portinari Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes, at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. At the central panel of the altarpiece, in the bottom of the composition, a lovely lusterware albarello is shown as an alluring, prestigious object given a function of a flower vase.