306 Apuntes del Alcázar de Sevilla
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the Patio de las Doncellas, like the Sala de los Pasos Perdidos and
Techo de los Reyes Católicos; the Salas de Sevillanos y de Toleda-
nos, and the three Salas de los Infantes, the three of the Cuarto del
Principe and the furthest of the Dormitorio de Reyes Moros
16
. In
the Dormitorio del Rey Don Pedro a frieze under the plinth block
necking can be seen and a design which is also found in the outer
room and bedroom, the same as those two that are comprised in
the Dormitorio de los Reyes Moros
17
.
In summary, the composition of plinths in the Mudéjar Palace is
quite homogeneous in all the rooms and little differences are not
sufficiently significant enough to extract conclusions of a chrono-
logical character.
2 ORNAMENTAL MOTIFS
The Mudéjar tile-work is usually classified simply into two
groups:
“estrellerías”
and
“lacerías”
. In the first case, all the zellij
tiles have polygonal shapes which fit together in direct contact,
despite their varied shapes. In the second, these polygons appear
separated by bands, which plait together, alternating and pass-
ing over and under other bands which cross their paths, forming
“sinos, candilejos, almendrillas, azafates, aspillas, costadillos y tara-
beas”
. All the tile-work in the Mudéjar Palace responds generi-
cally to these two groups and to a geometric repertoire whose
compositional rules, along with those of plaster and carpentry,
have been the subject of many mono-graphic studies
18
. However,
considering that this geometry has always been studied from a
technographic perspective rather than a historical-evolutionary
one, it might be risky to draw from its conclusions of a chrono-
logical character. From our point of view, from the 14th to 16th
century only the different levels of complexity and technical ex-
pertise seem to show a progressive simplification process. In this
sense, it seems wise to establish a provisional hypothesis for dat-
ing based on this material evidence that also coincides with other
documents which report a gradual loss of skilled Sevillian master
builders, a phenomenon we are aware of thanks to the Municipal
By-laws of the city, drawn up during the time of the Catholic
Kings
19
. Actually, this is one of the factors that have raised the
most suspicions in respect to the supposed chronological ho-
mogeneity of the whole complex
20
. The plinth block neckings
are almost homogeneous with only two models, but the plinth
blocks and the friezes are very varied and complex in the Patio
de las Doncellas and much simpler in the rest of the rooms (Fig.
3) y (Fig. 4). Without a doubt, the richest repertoire is that found
on the bases. Each entails a single motif except for three of them
which have several: Patio de Doncellas, Salón de Embajadores y
Sala de Audiencias. The most extraordinary case, however, which
is greatly different to the rest, is that of the Northern, Southern
and Western plinths from the galleries from said patio, where the
changes in motifs are much less evident than in those aforemen-
tioned, because they are not separated by explicit vertical divi-
sions, but in a gradual and almost imperceptible way, as has been
carefully studied by Donaire and Ramírez
21
. The design complex-
ity and the subtlety in the changes in motifs make us consider
the possibility that at the very least, these three rooms could be-
long to a time period of more sophisticated master builder work,
to be more precise the third quarter of the 14th century when
the Palace was built. However, before jumping to conclusions we
will look into other possible determining factors which support
this idea.
3. TERRACOTTA BODY
Another aspect we should observe in detail is the nature of the
materials used in the tile-work and of the procedures used to pro-
duce it because, although not necessarily, they may sometimes
correspond to the work of different manufacturers or periods in
time. In this section related to the formation of the zellij tiles we
are mostly concerned with two issues: the types of ceramic paste
used and the method followed to create the pieces.
3.1. Types of paste
at first sight, and making the most of the loss of some of the
glazing in some deteriorated zellij tiles, different types of ceram-
ic paste with different colorings can be perceived. Obviously, the
analytical procedures which scientific experimentation establish
should confirm these large differences perceived by the naked
eye. It is recommended, however, before undertaking the analy-
ses of pastes and glazing, to do a first visual inspection —with
or without supporting documents— which serves as a starting
point for adopting criteria for drawing physical samples and to
define the aims of the analytical strategy. This is the best way
for the resulting data to be later interpreted, to reach reliable
conclusions and to avoid the simple accumulation of disjointed
data.
The simple observation of the body of this tile-work has given us
more information than the realization that those which we esti-
mate to be the oldest seem to be made of a straw-colored paste,
while in some replacement pieces a reddish paste was used, and
even, in more recent cases, synthetic resins. We must also recog-
nize that the more modern tile-work is generally found so well
preserved, without any loss of glazing, that at the moment it is
almost impossible to know which paste lies under the glazing if
the pieces are not extracted.
3.2. Formalization
3.2.1 CUT AND TRIMMED ZELLIJ TILES
Contrary to that mentioned in the previous section, the type of
cut, as with the degree of geometric complexity, is one of the
more significant aspects of distinguishing different phases in
the execution of the tile-work of the Mudéjar Palace since it is
relatively easy to distinguish the pieces cut by hand from those
others obtained by more or less mechanical or even industrial
means, differences which obviously lead them to be attributed to
different periods in time
22
. This has allowed for the identification
of the restorations or productions from the 19th and 20th cen-
turies which, on the other hand have been able to be generically
documented in the literature and confirmed by other aspects that
will be explained later on.
The geometric shape of the zellij tiles is obtained in each histori-
cal period with the help of the techniques available to each arti-
san at the time, so the level of precision of the cutting instrument
offers many different results
23
. Handmade cuts made during the
Middle Ages produced works of surprising precision but never to
the exactitude that you could get from a modern industrial ma-
chine. Therefore it has been possible to differentiate the plinths
made with traditional cutting techniques from those which were
made by industrial manufacturing. (Fig. 5)
