GLAZED POTTERY.--MOORISH, PERSIAN, RHODIAN, ETC., ETC.
The Arabs in Spain.--Cordova, Granada, Seville.--Enamel and Lustres.--Hispano-Moresque.--The Alhambra.--Tiles.--Vase of the Alhambra.--Malaga.--Majorca and Maiolica.--Rhodian Pottery.--Damascus Pottery.--Persian and Arabic Pottery.--Persian Porcelain.--Persian and Arabic Tiles.
Before giving some particulars of the interesting examples of pottery which have come to us from the Arabs and the Moors of Spain, it may be well to devote a few moments to the people themselves.
I have thought it well to group under one head a number of their productions, because they are peculiar, and because they seem to have sprung from one centre, or to have grown up under a corresponding sense of the beautiful, so different from that of other peoples.
Beginning with the pottery of the Spanish Moors, now called _Hispano-Moresque_, and which is the latest, we run backward to the _Rhodian_, the _Arabic_, the _Damascene_, and the _Persian_. From what examples I have been able to see of these, they certainly show a strong family likeness in their colors, their designs, and their clays.
It is hardly to be supposed that this grew out of their religion, or that the fervid soul of Mohammed fired the souls of his followers with that striking and low-toned and intense and subtile harmony of blues, greens, and browns, which is so often seen on their tiles and dishes. It is more likely that, beginning somewhere, the Arabian potters carried with them wherever they went their colors and their secrets; and that what was desired in Persia, or Damascus, or Cairo, must be desired wherever the "followers of the faithful" were found; and thus they went to work to produce these various fictile wares which are now so much sought for.
One of the most curious, most interesting, and most picturesque episodes in modern history is that of the Moors in Spain.
From the year 712 to the time of the discovery of America, in 1492, these Moslems held possession of the finest parts of Spain, including the cities of Cordova, Granada, and Seville. Of these, Cordova and Seville are older than the Romans. In the first century they were fought over by Cæsar and Pompey, but were not destroyed. The shores of Spain were visited by the ships of Tyre, and afterward by the Greeks; but these came as traders, rather than as conquerors. The old inhabitants, the Iberians, were brave and determined; but they could not organize, could not resist the invading arms of Rome, which swept over the world under the leadership of some one able and daring leader. Then came in the Vandals and the Goths. They swarmed down upon Italy, and into Spain, where they became strong and great. As we read history, we see almost nothing but one long, fierce, destructive fight, and we wonder that there could have been any art, any learning, any kindness, in the world; for every man's hand was against every man, and the chief vocation of great men was to rob and enslave other men. So it has been, so it is now; the forms change, the fact remains. We have our feudal barons to-day. But how came the Moors--the Arabs, rather--in Spain? Briefly this may be answered: