Carreau gothique, Manises XVè siècle

Beautiful Manises Gothic hexagonal tile, showing two open leaves, both stems gathered alongside in the centre. There is a nice achievement of naturalism in the use of thin and delicate white lines to render the leave veins, a difficult technique obtained with the reverse effect throught the blue painting on the white ground.

This tile comes probably from the Monastry of Saint Jerome of the Murta, built in the ealry XVth century in the province of Barcelona. It is in this monastry where the Catholic Kings received in audience Christopher Columbus in april 1493 when he arrived from his first trip to America.

Condition: several glaze chips, a small break on a corner.
In a ebonised wood frame, certainly added by a collector in the late XIXth century- early XXth century.