It is certain that during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries large quantities of lustred pottery were produced in many parts of Andalusia, Castile, Aragon, and Valencia. The oldest and most valuable specimens of this pottery are those which have the palest and most purely golden lustre, combined with blue or bluish decoration in the form of animals, coats of arms, or foliage. The lustred ware of Manises began to deteriorate about the time of the expulsion of the Moriscos, when the leaves and fronds of a clean gold tone upon a lightish ground are replaced by commoner and coarser patterns, and the gold itself by the coppery lustre which is still employed. After the seventeenth century the further decline of this once famous industry may be traced from the accounts of travellers. Towards the middle of this century Bowles wrote that "two leagues from the capital (Valencia) is a fair-looking town of only four streets, whose occupants are nearly all potters. They make a _copper-coloured_ ware of great beauty, _used for common purposes and for decorating the houses of the working-people of the province_. They make this ware of an argillaceous earth resembling in its colour and composition that portion of the soil of Valencia which produces native mercury.... The objects they fashion of this earth possess a glitter and are very inexpensive, since I purchased half a dozen plates for a _real_. Nevertheless, _this is not the ware which has the highest reputation in the kingdom of Valencia_. The factory which the Count of Aranda has established at Alcora is not surpassed in Europe, and is ahead of many in fineness of substance, hardness of the varnish, and elegance of form. It would be perfect of its kind if the varnish did not crack and peel off so easily." According to Laborde, early in the nineteenth century Manises contained two potteries "of considerable extent, which employ seventy workmen. The people occupied in these possess the art of producing a gold _bronze_ colour which they carefully keep a secret, never communicating it to any person." Elsewhere in the same book Laborde is more explicit. "Manises is a village situated a league and a quarter north of Valencia. It is seen on the left coming from New Castile. It is noted for its manufactories of earthen ware, which employ thirty kilns, and occupy a great part of the inhabitants. The women are employed in forming the designs and applying the colours. There are two large manufactories of a superior kind, the earthen ware of which is tolerably fine, of a beautiful white, and a moderate price. They also make here vases worked with a great degree of delicacy." [Illustration: LXV HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE (_Late 15th Century. Osma Collection_)]