Unglazed white earthenware with slip-trailed decoration. Spanish (La Rambla), about 1865-70.

Bottle and stopper of almost white, unglazed earthenware, with slip-trailed decoration in relief.

Given by the Right Hon. Sir Henry Layard

These wares were almost certainly bought direct from the potteries in La Rambla.

(Ray) La Rambla is a town near Cordoba and has a long pottery tradition. Its staple products were water vessels made of a fine white clay made even whiter and more porous by the addition of salt. Their decoration is either slip-trailed or created with tools. Juan Fernandez and Antonio Jimenez, whose stamps appear on some of the La Rambla pots in the museum's collection, were just two of the many potters working in La Rambla in the mid 19th century. The principal decorative motifs on these pieces are mostly vegetal, consisting of floral sprays combined with flower-heads, sometimes a kind of sunflower and leaves filled with lattice-work. Minor motifs include twisted spirals, squiggles, S-scrolls and dots, all typical of the slip-trailed technique.

This piece is marked. It was given by Sir Henry Layard in 1870 as part of a group of typical products from La Rambla in Spain, and probably acquired by Layard straight from the potteries there.

This bottle is made of a particular type of light and porous clay, which was the speciality of La Rambla, near Cordoba in southern Spain. Vessels made of this type of clay have a special quality of keeping water cool and fresh, even in very hot weather.

762A/1, 2-1870