Title

Tile

Anonimous

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

This tile comes from Cuéllar (Segovia). The initial "A" in the center refers to the Alburquerque family, who settled in the town with the aim of establishing their court (Alegre, 2014). They carried out two architectural projects: the castle and the convent of San Francisco. They also contributed to the artistic promotion of other spaces such as the churches of San Martín, San Esteban, Santa María de la Cuesta, and Santo Tomé (Carceller, 2006).

We do not know where the tile was located, although it seems likely that it came from the convent of San Francisco. The monastery had suffered extensive damage during the French invasion and the War of Independence, at which time the choir stalls were used for firewood (Velasco, 1988). Subsequently, some pieces were removed from the complex, such as the supporting angels purchasedby William R. Hearst andthe tomb of Don Gutierre de la Cueva sold to Lionel Harris (Merino de Cáceres, 1991; Merino de Cáceres and Martínez Ruiz, 2012; Martínez Ruiz, 2018). It should not be forgotten that the convent of San Francisco was designed to be a family pantheon, so the use of tiles bearing the family's initials would reinforce the promotion of the lineage.

The piece was in the hands of Guillermo Joaquín de Osma y Scull, an avid collector of luxury arts who had followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, Juan Bautista Crooke. Crooke liked to collect Islamic ceramics (Martínez, 1978) and, after his death, his daughter Adelaida and Guillermo inherited his collection (Barrio, 1998). The National Archaeological Museum in Madrid preserves some documents relating to Andalusian pieces owned by Osma. One of them mentions an Arab box from Cuéllar (AMAN 1940/16/55), which means that Osma had objects from that town in his possession (Nebreda, 2019).

Guillermo de Osma had studied at Pembroke College (Oxford), a place he always remembered fondly. He maintained good contacts in England and composed the founding board of trustees of the Valencia Institute of Don Juan (Andrés, 1984) with prominent figures such as Archer Milton Huntington of the Hispanic Society ofNew York and Hercules Reed, curator of the British Museum in London. In 1902, Guillermo de Osma donated numerous pieces to the British Museum, including this tile.

Description

Basin and edge tile, polychromed in blue, green, and yellow, characteristic of the mid-15th century. It would have been part of a baseboard, perhaps placed alongside other tiles featuring plant or geometric motifs. Tiles served as a medium for emblems and symbols in the Modern Age, so it is not unusual to find the initial alluding to the family name.

Locations

• XV^th c.

  municipality

  Cuéllar, Cuéllar (Spain)

• ca. 1902

  private collection

  Guillermo Joaquín de Osma y Scull, Madrid (Spain) *

• ca. 1902 - present

  museum

  The British Museum, London (United Kingdom)