un recorrido por el arte mudéjar aragonés

webmaster: José Antonio Tolosa (Zaragoza -España-)

Jaturieta@aragonmudejar.com

PRESENTACION

NOVEDADES

BIBLIOGRAFIA

DICCIONARIO

ENLACES

DERECHOS RESERVADOS

Church of the Virgin (TOBED)

The second band is composed of a series of curved mixtilinear arches knotted together with a little opening on the left part, and divided in half, like the lower zone, by the portal.

The interior spaces and those between the arches again feature painted decoration, as well as ceramic tiles with heraldic motifs. In this case, the painting has almost vanished and only three of the heraldic tiles have survived, although there is an indication of a fourth one in the arch interior nearest the portal.

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The heraldic shields occupy the center of a white eight-pointed star, and have blue geometric motifs around the emblem. From what is visible, these have frames of green tiles.

We shall see the three coats of arms on the shields in various places in the interior. The first is quartered, with a red patriarchal cross on a silver ground in the first and fourth quarters, and a silver minaret tower on a ground of gules in the second and third. The center shield has the arms of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher with a patriarchal cross of gules on a silver field. The last depicts a silver pelican on a sable cup on a ground of gules and a silver border that has six diamonds of gules with a silver castle in each interior. The first of these may be that of Juan Pérez de Torres, who was prior of the Order in 1385 in the time of the chapter agreement to continue work on the church. The pelican is a religious symbol, since this bird became related to the theme of Jesus’ Resurrection.

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Around these tiles is the remains of a red and black zigzag band and a line of tiles drawn with black lines on a white ground, alternating long and short ones, the latter decorated with simple motifs similar to the bands that separate the wall decorations in the interior vaults. This band adapts itself to the shape of the interior of the curved mixtilinear arch.

Above this band and coinciding with the top of the doorway, there are two bands of angled brick interrupted only by the little opening already mentioned.

The lower band is formed by two double bands of staggered, parallel rows, and the upper one by a simple saw-tooth pattern of angled brick. These are all framed by ceramic ribbons in the form of arrows that combine the colors of white, green and blue.

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