Islamic bronze mortar. Spain, XIIIth-XIVth century

Beautiful Gothic octogonal mortar with two handles and twelve bidirectional tear-shaped ribs.
The octogonal mortar is possibly the oldest amonst Islamic mortars in Spain; both handles, decorated with notches and incisions, have its top line parallel to the base. The bottom part shows a weak incised decorative stippling below the ribs, whose thickness and sharpness correspond to XIVth century models, possibly XIIIth century too. An old crack can be seen next to one of the ribs.

It is a specially large specimen, characteristic of the first Gothic Spanish mortars, showing a nice wear and a beautiful patina.

Similar examples in:
- RUIZ DE GOPEGUI, F., Los almireces españoles (Sugrañes Ed., 2005), pages 33-36.
- SALA D'ART ARTUR RAMÓN, El món de la farmacia (Gràfiques Campàs, Barcelona, 1988), nº 6-11.


Dimensions: Height: 10 cm Top diameter: 11 cm

Condition: Ancient crack next to a rib