Sgraphitto vase

This Islamic vase appeared in the excavation of one of the Tossal of l’Almisserà farmhouses. It is decorated using the sgraffito technique. This technique consisted in applying a layer of manganese oxide on the ceramic piece and with a punch, through incisions, they made the desired decoration, all this before the ceramic firing. Although it is a very old technique, in Islamic times it reaches its maximum perfection. 

This type of decoration is found above all in containers intended for the containment of liquids, either for table service (jars and jugs) or for transport and storage (jugs and jugs). 

The decorative motifs are epigraphic; they used to be phrases from the Koran, although vegetable, geometric, zoomorphic or figurative motifs were also abundant. 

The sgraffito decoration appears in the Andalusian territories of the Iberian Peninsula, coinciding with the end of the Almoravid period (12th century) and throughout the Almohad period (13th - 15th century), but it reaches its greatest splendor, in terms of quality and quantity, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.    

Tossal of l’Almisserà

Chronology: s. XIII

Height: 165 mm; diam. base: 65 mm
Nº Inv. Vilamuseu 003680