Featured Talavera de la Reina jug

I’ve had this jug for a few years. It’s a flea market find from Lisbon. Couldn’t find much information about it when I was searching back then, and a museum I emailed never answered. So I thought I’d post photos here, but did another quick google search in case something new came up — and voilà, I found the answer.

Here is it anyway— perhaps it is of interest to someone else.
A large jug with 17th or 18th century motifs, some age to it and damage.
It says Talavera near the base and has a shield shaped mark on the bottom.

Soooo, I was of course hoping it would be a really old one, but couldn’t find the mark anywhere. And even after I read about a man named Juan Ruiz de Luna who started making replicas of centuries old pots using traditional methods and restored the Talavera de la Reina pottery fame, I didn’t put two and two together — the mark and the famous ceramicist’s name. Until now.

His marks are now shown in a few places online and a museum named after him is online. I think this jug dates to the early 20th Century, maybe even to his first period.

 

That shape is called a jarrón, if that's helpful.

Debora

 

Yes, thanks!
I was trying to find a name for it in English. Neither a jug or a vase or an amphora sounded right.

 

Ruiz de Luna mark

 

Yes, thanks — I’d finally figured it out. It has the crescent moon in it.

 

Here's a Juan Ruiz de la Luna jarrón for comparison.

https://www.todocoleccion.net/antiguedades/ruiz-luna-jarron-ceramica-talavera-ppos-xx~x30021060

And here is a web site dedicated to Ruiz de la Luna which includes a number of catalogs of his work.

https://ruizdeluna.com/ceramica/

Debora

 

In 1945, he was using that Talavera design and logo. I'll go back and look at the earlier catalogs to see when introduced.

https://ruizdeluna.com/wp-content/uploads/3-catalogo-de-ceramica-de-ruiz-de-luna.pdf

Debora

 

Great — thank you!

 

Here's the artist's biography. You'll have to run it through Google Translate.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ruiz_de_Luna

Debora

 

His bio is really interesting —and those old motifs and methods they used made the jarron look like it could really be from the 17th C.

Mine has damage and a hole — someone must have used it as a lamp— so it isn’t especially valuable but a fun thing to have. The way the drew animals in those days is fascinating.

 

The artist's dates are 1863-1945 so, if your jarrón can be no later than the 19th century. I don't find that logo in the next earliest catalog (1919) so I suspect your jarrón dates to later. Did you contact his museum? The email address is: museoruizdeluna@jccm.es if you haven't.

Debora

 

Perhaps following medieval bestiaries?

 

Maybe? The Portuguese did it too in their old tiles.

 

I emailed a museum in Madrid several years ago and they didn’t reply. I don't think it was the Ruiz de Luna museum as the marks were just shown as examples of Talavera de la Reina pottery marks. So I was asking when those marks had been used, hoping they’d say it was in the 17th C.

I’d read up on Ruiz de Luna and Talavera pottery but didn’t put de Luna’s name and the crescent moon mark together until earlier today. Maybe the museum guys were doing a face palm back then. Or didn’t want to reply to an English language mail.

According to what I read, de Luna was using those old motifs and production methods most faithfully in the early years up to 1915 or so. But I doubt it will matter an awful lot in value as my piece is damaged. And I intend to keep it.

 

I suspect they didn't speak English. What museum was it? Decorative Arts? Ruiz de Luna's museum is in Talavera de la Reina.

Debora

 

I don’t remember :-( — it was up to ten years ago. Before Google lens. Before I’d realized it was de Luna's mark. My image searches pull up vastly more information now than I could find then. Searching by words is way worse now, so it hadn’t occurred to me to re-research my old mystery pieces until I joined this site.

I remember finding a page about a Talavera exhibition. It showed a couple of marks from different times, but didn't identify them as de Luna’s marks. I don’t know anything about pottery so assumed the crescent in a shield mark was like a (heraldic) city mark used on silver. Especially as the crescent was also used as part of the silver hallmarks in Germany. So I simply didn’t put the maker’s name, de Luna (moon), and the crescent mark together.

It was quite a duh-moment when I realized it, so thought I’d share it as a funny/ cautionary tale.

Thanks for all the replies and the links!

Edit — I’m not sure how much I paid for but it was surely something like €20, maybe even €40, but I’ve never bought any pottery that cost more than that at the local flea markets. So not a bad deal at all. Not to mention that it was a great introduction to pottery marks.

 

Okay, you made me do it — @Debora I emailed the Ruiz de Luna museum.


I zoomed in on the photo in Marote’s post and it says this script and mark were possibly used from the end of 1910. They are quite similar to mine except mine are in two different locations. The mark at the back of the 1945 catalog has the waxing crescent. Will let you know if they reply.

 

Hum... I didn't see that in the early catalogs. Gonna go back and take another browse.

Debora

 

From the back of the 1945 catalog.

Debora

 

Nothing in the 1910, 1913 and 1915 catalogs. But that proves nothing.

Debora