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Tile
Unknown - Enlarge image
Tile
- Place of origin:
Seville, Spain (made)
- Date:
16th century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Tin-glazed earthenware
- Museum number:
184-1853
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This tile was made in Spain in the sixteenth century, using a technique known as cuenca. This involved pressing a mould into a clay slab to create a raised outline of the design with hollows between. These hollows were known as cuenca, which means 'bowls' in Spanish. The hollows were then filled with coloured glazes, in this case, with blue, green and copper. The technique was developed from an earlier method called cuerda seca which means 'dry cord'. To make these tiles, wax was drawn on the tile surface to make a resist outline. Different colours were then applied into the spaces in the design. The purpose of the wax line was to stop the colours from running into each other. However, sometimes this did happen as the line melted away during the firing.
