SGRAFFITO by ArtAncient

SGRAFFITO

In the twenty-first century, it is rare for a collection to leave a leading museum. This phenomenon is rarer still when the collection made up the greater part of a gallery — in this case the Medieval Cyprus gallery at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The bowls assembled by James Alfred Brew (1923–2008) have been on view at the Ashmolean for 53 years, and with the settlement of the estate they come to the market for the first time. These 34 bowls and fragments are the finest, in quality and condition, of the almost one hundred that Brew collected and placed with the museum on long-term loan. Brew was an art lover and art teacher, known to his students and friends as a connoisseur of eclectic taste. He saw in Cypriot sgraffito ware a beauty that few of his contemporaries had noticed: a brightly glazed and incised art form born of the Crusades. We are grateful to the heirs for entrusting this remarkable collection to us, and to Véronique François for her assistance with the cataloguing.

SGRAFFITO In recent decades, thanks to the growing body of research carried out by archaeologists and art historians, the outlines of the craft of pottery-making in Cyprus between the 12th and the early 17th century have come into clearer focus. Excavations, surveys and chance finds have made it possible to better understand how a wide range of cooking wares, tableware, everyday pots and storage jars were produced. The political upheavals of the late 12th century – in 1192, the island was sold by Richard the Lionheart to Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem – and the consequent settlement in Cyprus of a population of Frankish culture, along with Christians and Muslims coming mainly from the Near East, had an impact on the market for pottery. In the absence of an established local heritage, a syncretism as subtle as it is intriguing emerged in the field of pottery-making, and ceramic finds bear witness to the cultural blending that existed in Cyprus in the Latin period and that manifested itself in the making of these everyday objects. Before the arrival of the Franks, local production was limited to handmade, unglazed cooking pots and storage pottery, made in rural workshops in and around the Troodos mountain range. It was only at the end of the 12th century that the production of glazed tableware developed in Nicosia, in the tradition of Sicily or southern Italy, no doubt carried out by craftsmen from the Mediterranean regions who had newly settled in the city. Over the following two centuries, production continued there, but in other forms. At the beginning of the 13th century, potters from the Byzantine Empire, from the principality of Antioch, or more broadly from northern Syria, settled in Paphos, a port city in the southwest of the island. The combination of these multiple outside contributions – in techniques, forms and iconography, together with decorative elements belonging to the cultural world of the Franks – gave rise to a style specific to Cyprus. The characteristics of the ceramics made in the 13th and 14th centuries at Enkomi, north of Famagusta, are harder to determine. It is established, however, that the lower-quality glazed tableware produced in Famagusta between the late 15th and the late 16th century shared stylistic affinities with contemporary Veneto-Padan ceramics. At Lapithos, on the slopes of the Pentadaktylos mountain range, a little west of the port of Kyrenia in the north of the island, the production of glazed tableware began in the late 14th century and continued until the displacement of the population in 1974. As potters moved from one workshop to another, bowls in the style of those made at Paphos and Lapithos were also produced in Nicosia and in workshops that have not yet been identified. Among these are the workshops where sgraffito ceramics with white and red slip were produced in the 14th and 15th centuries. While the supply of earthenware was thus met by local production, the inhabitants of Cyprus, between the late 12th and the late 16th century, also served and presented food in wares imported from Syria, Palestine and Egypt, Greece and Turkey, Italy, Spain and Tunisia. While the poor probably ate from the same pots that were carried from hearth to table, and the rich and powerful owned gold and silver vessels, we hypothesize that this glazed ware, highly decorated yet still somewhat rustic, was intended for a clientele of craftsmen, merchants and minor officials of a wide diversity of origins, languages and faiths – Frankish lineages, long settled in the Latin states and stripped of their lands by the Muslim conquest, mingled with newly arrived Westerners, native Greeks, who made up the great majority of the population, Syrians, Armenians, and Italian and Catalan merchants. The bowls in the James Alfred Brew collection were found at Elea near Lefka – today in occupied Northern Cyprus. The find context of these objects, which are in very good condition, is not known, but it is almost certain that they come from tombs, most often dug around

churches. Indeed, many cemeteries have been vandalised, and the very well-preserved wares found in burials make up a significant part of the private and public collections displayed in museums in Cyprus and around the world. In the era of the Lusignan Kingdom (1191–1489), then during the Venetian period (1489–1571), and even after the island came under Ottoman control (1571–1878), it was customary to deposit ceramics, whether of local or imported manufacture, in burials, as shown in particular by the clearance of tombs at Episkopi, Yeroskipou, Polis and Letymbou. Everyday pottery, cooking pots and glazed tableware of either Cypriot or foreign origin were placed at the level of the hands and feet, sometimes at the shoulders of the deceased, or laid on the chest of adults or juveniles. The deposition of ceramics in tombs was probably not reserved for Orthodox Christians alone, since in Cyprus women and men of the Latin, Orthodox or Syriac faith could choose devotional and funerary practices other than those of their own confession. Thus, a Latin of Cyprus, taking communion according to the Catholic rite, might venerate non-Latin saints or Byzantine icons, or show generosity towards a non-Latin shrine. He might also prefer non-Latin funerary practices – being buried in a non-Latin shrine or calling on mourners for the funerals of his relatives. Conversely, an Orthodox believer might pray to a Latin saint or, among the wealthiest, be buried beneath a funerary slab in the Western manner. The J. A. Brew collection consists mainly of complete bowls, probably from tombs, but it also includes a few sherds, no doubt selected for their decoration: a fish incised on the only bowl that can be attributed to Paphos in the 13th century (no. 6); an anthropomorphic sun (no. 20), the face of a bearded man (no. 22), and two figures standing side by side holding a cup (no. 7) – motifs frequently found in the production of Lapithos in the late 14th and 15th centuries. Another sherd of the same origin, probably depicting a saint, is quite exceptional (no. 21). Most of the complete bowls illustrate several phases of production at Lapithos workshops between the late 14th and the 17th century. The Brown and Green Sgraffito bowls are decorated with more or less elaborate all-over geometric patterns, often arranged in bands and highlighted with green and yellow-ochre glazes (nos. 2, 11, 12, 18, 28, 34), or with depictions of knights in Frankish fashion accompanied by their wives, incised more or less schematically through a very white slip (nos. 5, 16, 23). Birds may also appear (no. 1). On the Green Painted bowls of the late 16th to early 17th century, the decoration, reduced to its simplest form, is painted in green (nos. 14, 15). The collection also includes Cypriot bowls of unknown origin, characterised by decoration in the tradition of the Paphos and Lapithos workshops, but which nonetheless differ from them in the nature of their clay and in the use of two slips, one white and one red. The decoration belongs to the same repertoire: all-over geometric or floral patterns (nos. 3, 8, 10, 17, 24, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33); figures or masks (nos. 4, 19); a bird (no. 13); and armorial shields, more or less well drawn, which only very vaguely evoke Frankish shields (no. 27). Lastly, if these ceramics do indeed come from tombs, as we hypothesise, it is not surprising to find in this collection a small bowl of the graffita arcaica type from the region of Padua, Venice or Ferrara, dating to the second half of the 15th century (no. 25) – Italian wares do indeed appear in Cyprus in both domestic and funerary contexts. As such, the glazed tableware pieces from the James Alfred Brew collection are fully representative of pottery production as it developed in Cyprus between the late 14th and 15th centuries. These fairly small cups and bowls, with incised decoration and polychrome glazes – all well preserved – were used for serving food and then, probably, as funerary furnishings. Overall, they shed useful light on the way of life of the island's inhabitants.

Véronique François CNRS, LA3M-UMR7298, Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence

Display of the J. A. Brew Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

PROVENANCE FOR WORKS IN THIS CATALOGUE Nos. 1-5, 7-14, 16-23, 25-34. PROVENANCE Discovered in Elea, near Lefka, Cyprus; Collection of James Alfred Brew (1923–2008), acquired in Cyprus in the 1960s and placed on long-term loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in 1972; Thence by descent to his daughter, Elaine Brew. EXHIBITED Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1972-2025 Nos. 6, 15, 24. PROVENANCE Collection of James Alfred Brew (1923–2008), acquired in Cyprus in the 1960s and placed on long-term loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in 1972; Thence by descent to his daughter, Elaine Brew. EXHIBITED Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1972-2025

Sgraffito Bowl with a Bird Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, early 15th century AD Height: 11.5 cm Diameter: 14.5 cm Brew inventory no. 7 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.3 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 86-96

Sgraffito Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 12.8 cm Diameter: 13.5 cm Brew inventory no. 70 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.41 Cf. Piltz, 1996, p. 66 : 49; Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 1999, p. 168: 347; Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 122 : 63, 123 : 64.

Sgraffito Bowl with Low Relief Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 7.5 cm Diameter: 9.6 cm Brew inventory no. 86 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.97 A row of relief pellets applied to the exterior of the body.

Sgraffito Bowl with Anthropomorphic Decoration and Low Relief Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.5 cm Diameter: 13.3 cm Brew inventory no. 50 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.28 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 67.

Sgraffito Bowl with a Figure Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 10 cm Diameter: 15 cm Brew inventory no. 11 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.4 This type of representation is common on Cypriot ceramics, and it is generally accepted that it depicts a Frankish knight.

Sgraffito Bowl Fragment with a Fish Paphos Workshop Lusignan, 13th century AD Height: 13.7 cm Brew inventory no. 108 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.75 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi 1996, pl. VII : 30, XV: 43 ; Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 97.

Sgraffito Bowl Fragment with a Couple Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th – early 15th century AD Height: 10.2 cm Brew inventory no. 73 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.42 This type of representation is common on Cypriot ceramics, and it is generally accepted that it depicts a Frankish couple or two Frankish women. Cf. Flourentzos, 1994, pl. XV: 28

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.8 cm Diameter: 13.8 cm Brew inventory no. 44 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.24

Sgraffito Bowl with a Bird Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, 15th century AD Height: 12.3 cm Diameter: 14.5 cm Brew inventory no. 13 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.6 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 86-96.

Sgraffito Bowl with Low Relief Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8 cm Diameter: 15.3 cm Brew inventory no. 51 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.29 Cf. Piltz, 1996, p. 18

Sgraffito Bowl with a Stylised Flower Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, 15th century AD Height: 10.4 cm Diameter: 10.7 cm Brew inventory no. 39 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.21

Sgraffito Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 7.5 cm Diameter: 12.7 cm Brew inventory no. 24 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.69 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 122 : 63, 123: 64.

Sgraffito Bowl with a Bird Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, 15th century AD Height: 9.8 cm Diameter: 14 cm Brew inventory no. 47 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.25

Painted Bowl Lapithos Workshop Ottoman to Venetian period Second half of 16th – early 17th century AD Height: 6.5 cm Diameter: 14.6 cm Brew inventory no. 58 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.33 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 148, 149.

Painted Bowl Lapithos Workshop Ottoman to Venetian period Second half of 16th – early 17th century AD Height: 6.7 cm Diameter: 18.8 cm Brew inventory no. 55 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.31 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 148, 149.

Sgraffito Bowl with a Figure Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, early 15th century AD Height: 12 cm Diameter: 14.4 cm Brew inventory no. 5 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.27

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, late 14th – early 15th century AD Height: 12.2 cm Diameter: 11 cm Brew inventory no. 81 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.47

Sgraffito Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 10.7 cm Diameter: 9 cm Brew inventory no. 80 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.46 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 122: 63, 123: 64.

Sgraffito Bowl with a Figure Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 8.9 cm Diameter: 15 cm Brew inventory no. 4 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.1 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 55-65.

Sgraffito Bowl Fragment with a Sun Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th – early 15th century AD Height: 8 cm Brew inventory no. 75 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.44 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 2004, p. 67 ; Flourentzos 1994, pl. IX: 20.

Sgraffito Bowl Fragment with a Saint Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 9.2 cm Brew inventory no. 76 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.94 This is a particularly rare depiction. The man – likely a saint – wears draped clothing, with his curly hair encircled by a halo. His proper right hand holds an object, perhaps a cross or a censer in the manner of Saint Stephen as depicted on a 15th-century fresco in the Church of the Archangel Michael at Pedoulas, Cyprus.

Sgraffito Bowl Fragment with a Face Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 9 cm Brew inventory no. 77 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.95

Sgraffito Bowl with a Figure Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th century AD Height: 12.2 cm Diameter: 14.7 cm Brew inventory no. 40 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.87

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 7.7 cm Diameter: 16 cm Brew inventory no. 110 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.7 7

Graffita Rinascimentale Canonica Bowl Padua Workshop (?) Second half of 15th century AD Height: 5.5 cm Diameter: 10.5 cm Brew inventory no. 91 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.100 In the centre of the well, an Italian almondshaped coat of arms, a typical motif in northern Italy during the second half of the 15th century. Cf. Magnani, Munarini, 1998, p. 151, 152, 164: 166, 167, 170, 171: 181 ; Munarini, 1990, p. 78-96.

Glazed Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, 15th century AD Height: 6.4 cm Diameter: 13.1 cm Brew inventory no. 9 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.51

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.4 cm Diameter: 16 cm Brew inventory no. 49 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.26 Frankish coats of arms on Cypriot tableware are frequent from the beginning of the 13th century onward, as elements of status identification.

Sgraffito Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th – early 15th century AD Height: 9 cm Diameter: 14 cm Brew inventory no. 65 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.38

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.5 cm Diameter: 16.2 cm Brew inventory no. 41 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.22

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.7 cm Diameter: 17.5 cm Brew inventory no. 29 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.85 Cf. Piltz, 1996, p. 36 ; Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 1999, p. 163 : 338

Sgraffito Bowl Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.2 cm Diameter: 15.2 cm Brew inventory no. 35 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.19

Sgraffito Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th – early 15th century AD Height: 10.5 cm Diameter: 14.3 cm Brew inventory no. 15 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.8 Cf. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, 1999, p. 164 : 339.

Sgraffito Bowl with Low Relief Lusignan, 14th century AD Height: 8.7 cm Diameter: 15 cm Brew inventory no. 43 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.23

Sgraffito Bowl Lapithos Workshop Lusignan, late 14th – early 15th century AD Height: 12 cm Diameter: 14.5 cm Brew inventory no. 6 Ashmolean acc. no. LI1100.2

BIBLIOGRAPHY Du Plat Taylor, Joan. 'Medieval Graves in Cyprus', Ars Islamica, V (1938): 55-86. Flourentzos, Pavlos. A Hoard of Medieval Antiquities from Nicosia. Nicosia: Cyprus Ministry of Communication and Works, Department of Antiquities, 1994. François, Véronique. 'Une illustration des romans courtois. La vaisselle de table chypriote sous l'occupation franque', Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes, 29 (1999) : 59-80. François, Véronique. 'Vaisselle de terre et pouvoirs politiques à Chypre aux époque comnène, franque et vénitienne', Cahier du Centre d’Études Chypriotes, 43 (2013) : 423-454. François, Véronique. 'Potter's Mobility and Transfer of Technology: Nicosia Tin-Glazed Tableware in the 13th Century'. In Petridis, Platon, Yangaki, Anastasia. G., Liaros, Nikos, Bia, Elli-Evangelista, (dir.), 12th Congress AIECM3 on Medieval and Modern Period Mediterranean Ceramics, Proceedings, 1. Athens: National Hellenic Research Foundation & National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2021): 185-194. François, Véronique. 'Italian Tableware in Cyprus during the Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman periods. Singularity or standard? What impact on local production?'. In Cirelli, Enrico (ed.), Proceedings of the XIV Congresso AIECM3 Ravenna 2024. To be published in 2027. Magnani, Romolo, Munarini, Michelangelo (ed.). La ceramica graffita del Rinascimento tra Po, Adige e Oglio. Mantova: Belriguardo,1998. Munarini, Michelangelo. 'Graffita Rinascimentale Canonica', In Ericani, Giuliana, Marini, Paola (ed.), La ceramica nel Veneto, La Terraferma dal XIII al XVIII secolo. Verona : Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1990 : 78-95. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, Demetra. Μεσαιωνική εφυαλωμένη κεραμική της Κύπρου τα εργαστήρια Πάφου και Λαπήθου.Thessaloniki: Έκδοση τοu ιδρύματος A. Γ. Λεβέντης, 1996. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, Demetra. Byzantine Glazed Pottery in the Benaki Museum. Athens: Benaki Museum, 1999. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, Demetra, Colours of Medieval Cyprus. Nicosie: A.G. Leventis Foundation, 2004. Piltz, Elisabeth. The Von Post Collection of Cypriote Late Byzantine Glazed Pottery. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, CXIX, Jonsered: Paul Åströms Förlag, 1996.

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