Hispano-Moresque Cup (Encisamera)
8.5 cm deep, 15.5 cm diameter (inc. handles)
Further images
This small bulbous vessel with short foot-ring and four s-shaped handles is known as an ensiamera or encisamera (salad server), a form first mentioned in 15th-century inventories.[1]
The vessel is decorated with motifs typical of those from the turn of the 16th century. The well is divided in four by a large cross. Each segment contains a cross-hatched tree and two square flowers. The walls are decorated with a block of lustre. A decorative band below the inside rim is divided by triangles containing fleur-de-lys.The exterior is decorated between the handles with square cartouches filled with wheat ears and square flowers. A more classically 16th century chain border decorates the top of the foot ring. Below the rim is a garbled Latin inscription, based on the opening of St John's Gospel in the New Testament: in principio erat verbum [in the beginning was the word]. This inscription, and exsurge domine [arise, O Lord], were added to Spanish ceramics in the late 15th century and continued to ca. 1530. However, as the 16th century progressed, the inscriptions became less legible. A near-identical inscription and font is seen on dishes dated 1500-1525 in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (accession no. 302-1893) and the British Museum, London (accession no. 1855,1201.88). A dish of the same encisamera form with a garbled erat verbum inscription is held in the Victoria & Albert Museum (accession no. 4-1907). It is dated to 1500–1525 from the Valencia region.
[1] González Martí, Manuel. Cerámica del Levante Español. Barcelona: Labor, 1944. p. 251. In Ray, Anthony. Spanish Pottery 1248-1898, with a Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 2000, p. 100.