Pair of tiles by Menasque Rodriguez, Seville, Spain, c.1900
These matching tiles make a pattern like a sunburst when theyâre put together. The tiles were inspired by âMoorishâ style. The Moors were people from North Africa who ruled Spain from the 700s to the 1400s. They were Muslims so their style was influenced by Islamic art.
These tiles look quite like Moorish tiles made over 300 years earlier. Similar tiles decorated the Alhambra Palace in Spain where Moorish kings lived.
These tiles imitate a method used to make Spanish tiles in the 1500s. The method allowed colours to be painted on a single tile without them mingling together. This was known as âcuencaâ and was an early form of moulding.
First, a mould was made for the tile which had lines cut into it. The soft clay tile was pressed against this mould. The clay would seep into the cut lines of the mould. This made a raised pattern outline on the clay, with hollows in between that could be filled in with colour. The raised outline stopped the colours from spreading into one another.
This tile imitates the traditional cuenca method, but was actually made using the more modern âdust-pressedâ method. This method was introduced in 1840 in Britain. A tile was made by combining clay dust with a small amount of moisture in a mould. The clay and moisture were forced together in a tile press so they stuck together. The tile was then dried and fired.
The design over this two tile panel has a complete âsunburstâ motif in the centre. There is a quarter sunburst motif at each corner. These four corners become whole motifs when joined with other tiles. These tiles could be used to make a continuous all-over wall pattern.
