Cuerda seca

When different coloured glazes are applied to a ceramic surface, the glazes have a tendency to run together during the firing process. In the cuerda seca technique, the water-soluble glazes are separated on the surface by thin lines of a greasy substance to prevent them running out of their delineated areas. A dark pigment such as manganese carbonate is usually mixed with the grease to produce a dark line around each coloured area.{{sfn|Campbell|2006}}

The origin of the technique is not known for certain. Many scholars believe that the cuerda seca technique originated primarily in al-Andalus (Islamic Spain and Portugal) in the second half of the 10th century, during the Umayyad period (citing Umayyad-era examples from Suza).{{Cite book|last=Soustiel|first=Jean|title=La céramique islamique : le guide du connaisseur|publisher=Fribourg: Office du livre|year=1985|isbn=271910213X}}{{Cite journal|last1=Pérez-Arantegui|first1=Josefina|last2=Soto|first2=Mercedes|last3=Castillo|first3=Juan Ramon|date=1999|title=Examination of the cuerda seca decoration technique on Islamic ceramics from al-Andalus (Spain)|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=26|issue=8|pages=935–941|doi=10.1006/jasc.1999.0400|bibcode=1999JArSc..26..935P }}{{Cite journal|last1=Chapoulie|first1=R.|last2=Delery|first2=C.|last3=Daniel|first3=F.|last4=Vendrell-Saz|first4=M.|date=2005|title=Cuerda seca ceramics from al-Andalus, Islamic Spain and Portugal (10th−12th centuries AD): investigation with SEM–EDX and cathodoluminescence |journal=Archaeometry|volume=47|issue=3|pages=519–534 | doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.2005.00217.x}}{{Cite book|last1=Lintz|first1=Yannick|title=Le Maroc médiéval: Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne|last2=Déléry|first2=Claire|last3=Tuil Leonetti|first3=Bulle|publisher=Louvre éditions|year=2014|isbn=9782350314907|location=Paris|page=332}} Scholar Juan Zozaya argues that the advent of this style in al-Andalus could have been spurred by Chinese ceramics which were imported to the region from an early period.{{Cite book |last=Zozaya |first=Juan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xOhDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA463 |title=The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 1: History and Society |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-351-88961-2 |editor-last=Marin |editor-first=Manuela |pages=463 |language=en |chapter=Eastern Influences in al-Andalus}} The technique was further advanced during the Taifas period in the 11th century. Preserved fragments of tiles from the late 12th-century minaret of the Kasbah Mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco, have been cited as the earliest surviving example of cuerda seca tilework being used for architectural decoration.

In Central Asia, tiles were manufactured using the cuerda seca technique from the second half of the 14th century.{{sfn|Porter|1995|p=18}} Hans Van Lemmen postulates that these tiles, from the Timurid period (late 14th to 15th centuries), were "earliest development of cuerda seca".{{Cite book |last=Lemmen |first=Hans Van |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfRvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=5000 Years of Tiles |date=2013-10-22 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=978-1-58834-398-7 |pages=53 |language=en}} The introduction of different coloured glazes is recorded in the mausoleums of the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis in Samarkand. In the 1360s the colours were restricted to white, turquoise and cobalt blue but by 1386 the palette had been expanded to include yellow, light-green and unglazed red.{{sfn|Atasoy|Raby|1989|p=373, fn 23}} Large quantities of cuerda seca tiles were produced during the Timurid (1370–1507) and Safavid (1501–1736) periods.{{sfn|Porter|1995|p=20}}

In the 15th century Persian potters from Tabriz introduced the technique into Turkey and were responsible for decorating the Yeşil Mosque in Bursa (1419-1424).{{sfn|Atasoy|Raby|1989|p=83}} Within the Ottoman Empire cuerda seca tilework fell out of fashion in the 1550s and new imperial buildings were decorated with underglaze-painted tiles from İznik. The last building in Istanbul to include cuerda seca tilework was the Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque which was designed in 1555 but only completed in 1572.{{sfn|Atasoy|Raby|1989|p=220}}{{sfn|Necipoğlu|2005|pp= 377-384}}

File:Palmtree vase Susa Louvre MAOS383.jpg|Pitcher in cuerda seca style from Susa in Iran, 8th-9th century

File:Cuerda seca tile, 12th-13th century - Alcázar of Seville, Spain - DSC07339.JPG|Cuerda seca tile from the Alcazar of Seville, 12th-13th century

File:Yesil Cami 7436.jpg|Tiles in the Green Mosque, Bursa, c. 1420

File:Green Tomb 7475.jpg|Details of the Green Tomb in Bursa

File:Star-shaped tile V&A C.747-1909.jpg|Tile from Khargird in Iran, mid 15th century

File:Louvre - carreaux ottomans 16.jpg|Ottoman tile, Istanbul, first half 16th century

File:Dish with gothic beast Seville V&A 300-1893.jpg|Dish from Seville in Spain, early 16th century

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | last1=Atasoy | first1=Nurhan | author1-link=Nurhan Atasoy | last2=Raby | first2=Julian | year=1989 | title=Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey | publisher=Alexandra Press | place=London | isbn=978-1-85669-054-6 }}
• {{cite book | editor-last=Campbell | editor-first=Gordon | year=2006 | title= The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, Volume 1 | contribution=Cuerda seca and cuenca tiles | publisher=Oxford University Press | place=New York | isbn=978-0-19-518948-3 | page=293 }}
• {{ cite book | last= Necipoğlu | first=Gülru | year=2005 | title=The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire | publisher=Reaktion Books | place=London | isbn=978-1-86189-253-9 }}
• {{cite book | last= Porter | first=Venetia | year=1995 | title=Islamic Tiles | publisher=British Museum Press | place=London | isbn=978-0-7141-1456-9 }}

• {{Cite journal |last1=Valdés Fernández |first1=Fernando |last2=Casamar Pérez |first2=Manuel |date=1984 |title=Origen y desarrollo de la técnica de cuerda seca en al Península Ibérica y en el Norte de Africa durante el siglo XI |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=77846 |journal=Al-qantara: Revista de estudios árabes |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=383–404 |issn=0211-3589}}
• {{cite book | last=Gestoso y Pérez | first=José | year=1899 | title=Ensayo de un diccionario de los artífices que florecieron en Sevilla : desde el siglo XIII al XVIII inclusive. Volume 1 | publisher=En la oficina de la Andalucía moderna | place=Seville | page=77 | url=http://www.bibliotecavirtualdeandalucia.es/catalogo/catalogo_imagenes/imagen.cmd?path=1003568&posicion=1#160 | oclc=9986104 | language=es | ref=none }}

{{commons category|Cuerda seca ceramics}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150203000054/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=877&lang=en The cuerda seca method], Qantara project.

Category:Types of pottery decoration

Category:Ceramic glazes

Category:Tiling