The Industrial Arts in Spain — Background and Themes

Moorish Pottery as the Core Evidence

The excerpts devote most of their space to Hispano-Moresque earthenware, tracing Arab influence from the 8th century onward. Riaño describes fragments from Granada's Museo Provincial, noting a plate with "a falcon on a horse's back" and comparing the horse's plaited tail to an ivory casket dated 969 A.D. He uses such comparisons to argue for a Cordovese origin and a "very decided Persian character." The text does not simply list objects; it builds a chronological argument about stylistic change, citing a 13th-century manuscript to show how the horse's shape evolved. This level of detail—linking a pottery shard to a specific ivory piece—is absent from the catalog subjects, which list only broad categories like "Pottery -- Spain -- History." The excerpts reveal that the book's real subject is the technical and stylistic continuity of Moorish ceramic traditions, not a general history of Spanish pottery.

Museum Provenance and the Handbook Format

The book's origin as a South Kensington Museum handbook shapes its content. The excerpts repeatedly cite objects from that museum's collection—"S.K.M." appears in nearly every illustration caption and in the text itself. Riaño also references the Bernal Collection and the Villaseca Collection, but the museum's holdings clearly drive the selection. The pottery section, for example, organizes wares into three groups: Moorish-style pottery, Italian-style Talavera ware, and porcelain from Alcora and Buen Retiro. This tripartite structure mirrors the museum's classification system rather than a purely historical narrative. The catalog subjects—"Decorative arts -- Spain -- History" and "Pottery -- Spain -- History"—imply a broad scope, but the excerpts show a narrower focus on objects accessible to a London audience in the 1870s and 1880s. Readers should expect a guide to museum pieces, not a comprehensive art history.

Technical Description Over Narrative

Riaño's prose is dense with technical detail: he discusses glaze, paste, decoration techniques, and dating methods. For instance, he notes that fragments from Illiberis are "decorated with arabesques in green and black on a whitish ground" and that "the glaze and paste are similar to pottery which we know was manufactured at Granada." He also addresses the difficulty of provenance, admitting "it is almost impossible to assert whether this pottery was made in, or imported into Spain." This cautious, evidence-based approach contrasts with the catalog subjects' broad historical labels. The excerpts contain no sweeping claims about Spanish national identity or artistic genius; instead, they offer careful observations about material properties and stylistic parallels. Readers interested in the physical characteristics of Spanish ceramics will find the text rewarding, while those seeking a narrative history may find it fragmentary.

Riaño's handbook rewards readers who approach it as a museum catalogue rather than a continuous history. The pottery section, in particular, demonstrates how close analysis of fragments can illuminate cross-cultural exchange. To get the most from this book, pay attention to the illustrations and the museum numbers—they are the thread that ties the text to tangible objects. The catalog subjects hint at breadth, but the excerpts show a work deeply rooted in specific collections and technical connoisseurship.

There's something touching about how Riaño’s handbook promises one thing—catalog entries—and then quietly loses itself in Moorish glazes and excavated shards. It makes me think of the older volume, The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain Described in a series of letters, with illustrations representing Moorish palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of art, contained — Text and Context, where the letters wander similarly, never quite staying on their announced course. Both feel like conversations overheard, full of digressions that matter more than the plan.