Cup and cover, unglazed earthenware with incised, applied, painted and gilt decoration, Turkey (using clay from Lemnos), 19th century

Cup and cover of white unglazed earthenware, with filter inside; on the outside are incised and applied ornaments, gilt and painted in red and green.

Items 918 to 929-1875 were acquired as "Siculo-Moorish" wares. In other words, they were believed to be associated in some way with the period of Arab rule in Sicily -- the conquest began in 827, and the last Arab stronghold fell in 1091. This attribution seems to have been based on their provenance, as the vessels were purchased from George Morris, whose home address was Thistle Grove, South Kensington, but who had been British consul in Sicily since 1869.
The list of Morris’s consular posts in his Times obituary in 1898 were Benghazi, Crete, Palermo and Smyrna. While he was vice-consul in Benghazi, he was also “for some time employed on behalf of the British Museum in making explorations in Asia Minor”. Indeed, a "Mr Franks", presumably A.W. Franks of the British Museum, suggested the purchase of this group of ceramics to Philip Cunliffe Owen, the director of the South Kensington Museum. The director sent an outside adviser (art referee) C.D.E. Fortnum to assess them, and Fortnum reported the following:
Those to which I particularly allude are a series, each more or less varied in degree of ornamentation, of “Alcarazas” or water jugs or drinking vessels, formed of a firmly baked but porous clay, obviously for the purpose of cooling the contents by evaporation from the surface.
Their forms vary and are elegant, but their most remarkable feature is the perforated strainer which occupies the interior of the neck, the varied designs of which, as also the external ornaments, are of the greatest elegance.
I consider the vessels to be valuable as suggestive models.
Of their approximate date it is difficult to decide, but they would seem to point to the Moorish occupation of Sicily.
There are, I think, 11 of these vessels for which Mr Dennis asks £5 each and for one richly decorated in gold and colours £15 = £70 in all.
Richard Redgrave also approved their purchase, which then went ahead. The entries in the accession register were all along these lines:
926-1875
Jug with cover. “Alcarazza.” White unglazed porous pottery, with strainer inside, the outside ornamented with incised flowers and embossed rosettes. Siculo-Moorish. H. 7 in., diam. 4 in. Bought, 5l.
Arthur Lane was more sceptical when he drafted a label for the same object in 1954:
Jug with cover, unglazed earthenware, with incised and applied decoration. Acquired as “Siculo-Moorish”; 19th century.
This was the first stage in re-attributing the production of these vessels to the Ottoman empire.

using clay from Lemnos

This cup was made from a special clay from the island of Lemnos in the Aegean, thought to have health benefits including offering protection against poison. The clay was used to make drinking vessels in prehistoric times, and people even ate the clay itself.

The Ottomans conquered Lemnos in 1453, and the Ottoman governor of the island presided over an annual ceremony to dig up the clay on 6 August each year. This may have been a revival of the tradition from Antiquity, or the clay may have been in continuous use on the island. Because it was only excavated for 6 hours per year, the clay was very rare, and so vessels made from it were marked with a special seal to prove that they were genuine. The seal can be seen at the base of the handle of this cup. The Latin word for a seal - sigillum - gave these vessels the name terra sigillata or 'sealed earth'. Wares made from this clay are also known as Terra Lemnia after the island of Lemnos.

Red clay from Lemnos was particularly prized, and was used at the Ottoman court and even shaved into the Sultan's food. Whiter clay was used to make vessels like this for sale in the Istanbul bazaar.

929-1875