Socarrat are fired

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wa ...

covered with a white base and generally painted in red and black. These were placed between beams and

joists A joist is a horizontal structural member used in framing to span an open space, often between beams that subsequently transfer loads to vertical members. When incorporated into a floor framing system, joists serve to provide stiffness to the s ...

in buildings’ ceilings and

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

. Their origin is typically medieval but subsequent production of these objects is known, mainly in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. There are other words to name objects with similar function such as rajola, maó prim, atovó or cairó. The first register about its existence was likely in 1604, when D. Feliciano de Figueroa, Bishop of Segorbe, refers to a group of roof and wall

written and coloured with koranic transcripts. Traditionally, they’re said to come from

Paterna Paterna is a city and a municipality in the province of Valencia in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located northeast of the comarca of '' L'Horta de Valencia'', northwest of the inland suburbs of Valencia, and on the left bank of the riv ...

but the presence of these and other similar objects has been documented too in

Manises Manises (, ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Oest in the Valencian Community, Spain. Located in the province of Valencia, it had 30,693 inhabitants in 2018 (NSI) and is famous for its pottery and being the location of Valencia Airp ...

and in some other places in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...

and

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

Usage

''Socarrats'' were mainly manufactured in two basic sizes: the smaller with 30 x 15 x 3 cm and the larger with 40 x 30 x 3 cm (approximate measures). The first one could be used in buildings in two main ways: decorating eaves (the lower edges of a roof that project over the walls) either leaning on walls or on joists. They could also be used in ornamental

friezes In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

, in

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

and

staircases Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

. The largest tiles filled the space between

on interior ceilings, with both structural and decorative functions, supporting pavements or roofs. The smaller size could carry out the same function. Socarrats were frequently reused to build new walls and levelling out pavements.

Manufacturing

There’s a wide debate in what concerns to socarrat manufacturing. Being objects with ceramic base, controversy starts when one considers the stages that occur after drying the moulded ceramic paste. González Martí and Blat Monsó are the most representative authors on this subject. According to González Martí, the dry tile should be covered with a

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...

based earth and painted with

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

and

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of ...

oxides. Then, it should be fired and the result should be a matte decoration. The existence of a firing process and the nature of pigments were not always clear. Before González Martí, some authors have referred the lime used to decorate socarrats could not have been fired after application on the tile. Afterwards, Blat Monsó and others have reinforced this statement.

Iconography

There are three basic types of representations in socarrats: religious, magic and social ones. The first one includes crosses and inscriptions, such as the koranic verses written on the socarrats of the Xara mosque in Valdigna. Fatima’s hands or

Hamsa The ''hamsa'' ( ar, خمسة, khamsa) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings.Bernasek et al., 2008p. 12Sonbol, 2005pp. 355–359 Depicting the open right h ...

, boats, towers, animals and chimeric figures such as Butoni, a monster in the valencian imaginary are part of the second type of representations. The use of heraldic symbols and decorated elements made visible in public spaces and the representation of courtesan and satiric scenes fulfilled the third one. Socarrats were also used to do public announcements, such as the edict for recruit of soldiers of the Duke of Segorbe, in 1513.

References

{{Islamic architecture Ornaments Spanish pottery Moorish architecture Islamic architectural elements Islamic art of Spain Ceramics of medieval Europe