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- [Steven] We're in a small room
in the Robert Lehman Collection
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
that is completely devoted to Renaissance ceramics,
and we're looking at a beautiful lusterware dish.
- [Lauren] This lusterware dish comes from Spain
in the second half of the 15th century,
and lusterware was not only very common at this point,
but it was incredibly popular.
And we find it all across western Europe
and throughout the Mediterranean, because it was traded,
it was exported across vast expanses of land
because people desired this type of ceramic.
- [Steven] This represents a type of object
that easily crossed cultural boundaries,
and one of the reasons that people loved it
is because of its metallic opalescent sheen.
It's just beautiful.
It glows, it's as if the plate is embedded with gold.
- [Lauren] If we move around it,
we see different reflections moving across the surface,
animating it in this really shiny, shimmery way.
I mean, it's just beautiful to look at.
- [Steven] So here was a technique that used earthenware,
which was a relatively inexpensive material,
and made it glow.
And I think we can imagine in the 15th century,
in an era when bright colors were relatively rare,
when many of the objects that we take for granted
would have been considered extraordinarily luxurious,
just how attractive lusterware must have been.
- [Lauren] Lusterware is centered in Spain
in the 15th century in Valencia,
and the dish that we're looking at here
comes from one of the most important centers
of production, Manises,
which had arguably the best lusterware artists
of the 15th century.
- [Steven] The fact, those artists were sometimes exported
to distant regions in order to set up shop
in order to produce lusterware tiles in distant locales
because transportation of those tiles
would have been costly.
- [Lauren] And to me it makes sense that lusterware
comes from Spain, because of the cross-cultural exchanges
that had to happen for this to be able to be produced.
Lusterware is indebted
to Islamic ceramic technology and production.
And of course, Spain has a long history
and relationship to Islam in that much of Spain
was formerly Al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain.
And this type of ceramic vessel,
this type of tin glazed earthenware actually originates
with Islamic pottery that was developed
in the ninth century,
and then it is brought to Spain and develops there.
So after this area of Valencia
was reconquered by Christians,
you still have a lot of Muslims living there
and continuing this type of craft.
- [Steven] And that relationship
between Christian and Islamic territory is in a sense
mimicked in the mesmerizing decoration of this plate.
One aspect that is central to Islamic design
is the idea of the repetition of a single unit,
and we see that throughout this plate.
On the other hand,
we also see references to the Greco-Roman world,
especially in that wonderful vine motif
that wraps around the outer border of the plate.
- [Lauren] And I'm reminded of metalwork here,
particularly in repetition of this ivy vine
and tendril motif.
It reminds me of low relief engravings
on the surfaces of different metals,
and of course, lusterware is supposed to mimic metals
to some degree.
- [Steven] And that's because metal would have been
much more expensive to produce
than what is essentially an earthenware plate
that has had metal oxides applied to the surface.
- [Lauren] In other examples of lusterware made in Spain,
we see a lot more blue.
This particular dish that we're looking at
has no blue in it, but in a lot of them,
you have the presence of cobalt,
and that is because prior to the 15th century,
particularly in Islamic ceramic production,
there was a desire to replicate
Chinese blue and white porcelain.
Then that is brought to Spain,
and so in the earlier half of the 15th century,
you see a lot more examples of lusterware
with cobalt blue included in them.
The fact that this one has an absence of cobalt
actually helps us date it to the second half
of the 15th century.
- [Steven] This plate probably would not have been intended
to be used.
Not only does it have that convex boss in the center,
but you can also see a hole that's been drilled in the top,
and so it's very likely that this was put up for display.
- [Lauren] This type of vessel was very popular,
as I mentioned earlier,
and it was collected by many different elites across Europe.
We find reference to it in records that indicate
that the Dukes of Burgundy owned some,
it was popular in Florence, it was popular across Spain.
We find examples of it from England
all the way down to Sicily.
It was even traded to Egypt at this time
because of transformations in trade
across the Mediterranean.
- [Steven] And it's interesting today in the museum
that that kind of transnationalism is replicated.
We find lusterware in different parts of the museum.
We find it in the section devoted to Spain,
we find it in the area of the museum
that's devoted to Islam,
and we find it in the Medieval section,
but there is a difference.
In the 21st century, many museum visitors
tend to walk by ceramics, even objects as beautiful as this,
preferring to look instead at painting, perhaps sculpture.
But for those that stop and take a moment to look,
they are really rewarded.
- [Lauren] Even if you're looking at Renaissance paintings,
you can also find examples of lusterware
included in these paintings.
A really famous example would be Hugo van der Goes'
Portinari altarpiece, which was brought
by a Florentine merchant and banker back to Florence,
but yet was painted by a Flemish artist,
and right there in the central portion of the altarpiece,
you find an example of Spanish lusterware.
- [Steven] And it's important to note
that that painting is a representation
of the Virgin Mary, of the Christ child,
and yet lusterware had such significance
that it found a place amongst the Holy family.
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