#TilesOnTuesday :
Ceiling Tile (socarrat) with Design of a Lion
Paterna, Valencia region, Spain; Mudéjar period, c.1450-1500
Earthenware with red manganese oxide & black iron oxide pigments over white slip
14 x 17 5/16 x 15/16 in. (35.5 x 44 x 2.4 cm)
Saint Louis Art Museum 37:1939
“Overlaying the lively animal decorating the surface, this tile bears the stamp of the kilns at Paterna, just outside Valencia, Spain. It would have decorated a ceiling inside a local building, suspended between wooden rafters. The term for such ceiling tiles is socarrat, which means ‘burnt’ in the local dialect, referring to the process of baking in the kiln. Before they were baked, such tiles were painted with a white slip (clay thinned with water) and then with black and red pigments derived from manganese and iron. They were not glazed. The lion on this tile appears to be panting, while his tail swishes through the air.”
