Majolica ceramic dish. SigloXVIII.

Majolica ceramic dish. SigloXVIII.
Stanniferous blue and white majolica pottery.
Measurements: 31 cm (diameter) x 5 cm (diameter) x 5 cm.

The piece is a stanniferous ceramic dish decorated in blue on a white background, a technique characteristic of the Mediterranean majolica of Hispanic tradition. Its shape is simple, with a slightly open rim and wide base, typical of utilitarian and decorative production between the 17th and 18th centuries. The glaze presents a fine and uniform crackle, typical of the natural aging of the pieces with tin coating.

The decoration is organized around a central scene executed with loose and spontaneous brushstrokes. In the center is a human figure with an agile and schematic outline, drawn with very diluted brown or manganese lines. The figure looks like a popular character advancing to the left, with a wide-brimmed hat and dynamic gesture. This type of figures, made with rapid strokes, is frequent in ceramics of popular production of Iberian workshops, especially in areas such as Talavera, Puente del Arzobispo or Catalonia, where there are abundant scenes of local customs and isolated characters in a "brush" style.

The background is decorated in cobalt blue with horizontal bands and wide stains, suggesting a schematic landscape or a simple ornamental resource to balance the composition. In the wing, vegetal motifs with elongated and stylized brushstrokes frame the scene, a very common resource in Talavera ceramics since the end of the 17th century.

The quality of the brushstroke, its spontaneity and the ornamental repertoire point to a popular production of the 18th century, although it could also be placed in a range between the late 17th and early 18th centuries, depending on the specific workshop.

It is a representative plate of the Hispanic glazed ceramics of the period, where the costumbrista figures and the decoration in cobalt blue show the influence of both the local tradition and the imported aesthetics of Italian and Dutch ceramics, reinterpreted by peninsular workshops for a wide and domestic market.