Floor tiles - so called Leonardo tiles

Ceramics and Glass Collection

Accession Nr.: 6558
Manufacturer: Haban workshop
Date of production:
first half of the 17th century
Place of production: Upper-Hungary; Nagyszombat (Trnava) (presumably)
Materials: clay
Techniques: polychrome painting
Dimensions:
length: 21 cm
width: 21 cm
thickness: 2,6 cm

Hexagonal, showing a hollow dice. The sides are painted in blue, ochre and white. The inner edges of the hollowed forms are painted in green and ochre. The sides of the dice and the outer edges are contoured with manganese. The effect of this is to make it appear as if the hollow dices are three-dimensional against a dark manganese background. The makers of this tile must have been Haban, although the technique of decoration was originally Italian. There are 456 hexagonal, 56 triangular and 54 broken remnants of tiles in the collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts.

The simplicity of the range of colours enhances the motif borrowed from Luca Pacioli's treatise De divina proportione (Venice, 1509). The geometrical design was hollowed out of the clay before it was fired. One of the pieces bears an inscription in German.

Literature

  • Recht Roland, Périer-d' Leteren Catheline, Griener Pascal: The Grand Atelier. Pathways of Art in Europe, 5th - 18th centuries. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Brussels, 2007. - p. 212; Nr. XI.1. (téves ltsz.mal)
  • Szerk.: Lovag Zsuzsa: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum. (kézirat). Iparművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 1994. - Nr. SZ/60. (Csenkey Éva)
  • Szerk.: Péter Márta: Reneszánsz és manierizmus. Az európai iparművészet korszakai. Iparművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 1988. - Nr. 543. (Cserey Éva)
  • Cserey Éva: Gedanken zu Habaner-Kacheln im Kunstgewerbemuseum in Budapest. Keramos, 104. (1984). 1984. - p. 86-96., 6. kép
  • Landsfeld Herman: Lidové hrnčířství a džbánkařství. Praha, 1950.