Wall plate in Talavera pottery, Iberian bull, Spain 1960s

Large decorative wall plate made of Spanish earthenware, entirely hand-painted, produced in Talavera de la Reina in the 1950s-1960s. The decoration contrasts with the usual floral repertoire of Talavera: a stylised bull with a compartmentalised body of dotted lines and stripes, topped with a spiralled eight-pointed star, in a rim with a frieze of Greek patterns. A vocabulary directly borrowed from pre-Roman Iberian ceramics of Llíria, reinterpreted at the time when Picasso was reviving the bull in Vallauris. The palette is limited to manganese black and iron ochre on white glaze. Marked on the reverse "Jacob – Talavera – Made in Spain – R-250". Original suspension cord: the piece was designed as a painting, to be hung as is. Dimensions: Ø 22 cm. Material: glazed earthenware, grand feu decoration. Condition: excellent condition. No chips, no cracks, no restoration. The slight irregularities of the glaze on the edge of the rim and the dark spots in the glaze are original firing accidents, characteristic of Spanish handmade earthenware — they signify handcrafting. Stunning alone above a console, or in a wall composition with other Mediterranean ceramics.