Pair of white ceramic table lamps with faux wicker texture, Spanish coastal design, 1970s

Two 1970s ceramic table lamps from Manises, the historic ceramics town outside Valencia, on Spain's Mediterranean coast. The white-glazed bases are modeled in a convincing faux-wicker weave — a ceramic nod to the wrapped wicker vessels long used around the Mediterranean. New handwoven jute shades have just been added, picking up the woven idea above the bases in a soft, natural fiber. The pair has been newly rewired. A few small areas of glaze loss are visible on very close inspection but do not affect display. Height given includes the shade. About Manises. Manises has been a defining Spanish ceramics town since the 14th century, when its Hispano-Moresque lusterware was traded across medieval Europe from the port of Valencia. By the twentieth century, local potteries had moved toward more experimental decorative work — these lamps, with their playful trompe-l'œil weave, sit firmly in that later tradition.