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ISABELA POLYCHROME front view
Type Name: ISABELA POLYCHROME
Type Index: MAJOLICA
Production Origin: SPAIN
Date Range: 1490-1580
Defining Attributes:

Light cream to buff paste color, with a soft, chalky clay texture. Occasionally pink.

Off-white, cream, or grayish-white tin enamel, usually covering both sides of the vessel. The quality of the enamel varies widely among vessels, from thin, irregular and shiny, to thick, matte and smooth.

Designs painted in blue and manganese purple, emphasizing Arabic motifs and stylized floral elements enclosed in bands of blue and purple. Stylized Alafias, or Arabic inscriptions of mercy, pardon, pity or well-being., are common.

Vessel Forms: BOWL
ESCUDILLA
PLATO
Comments: Isabela Polychrome is part of the "Morisco" (Christianized Muslim) ceramic tradition of fifteenth century southwestern Spain, centered around Seville. It is the only polychrome majolica in that group, and declined in frequency around 1550 on American sites.
Published Definitions: Goggin 1968:126-128

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