The Industrial Arts in Spain Part 31

In 1755 thirteen pottery kilns existed at Puente del Arzobispo near Toledo; they still worked in 1791, but their productions were very inferior in artistic merit.

Earthenware pottery was made at Segovia from a very early period, chiefly for domestic use, until a manufactory was founded by two brothers--Manuel and Tomas Ledesma in 1752--they had seen some specimens which were made at Bolonia for Isabel Farnesio, the widow of King Philip V., and they endeavoured to imitate them. In 1774 they tried with a most unsatisfactory result to imitate English wares. This industry fell into decay towards the end of the century, and only ware of a very common description was made there.

Talavera ware was also imitated at Zamora. At the middle of the 18th century works existed there where pottery was made in the manner adopted at Alcora with few results, for soon after it was established the master potter, who was at the head of these works, left the locality.

["Memorias," Larruga, Vols. 13 and 34.]

The further we advance into the 18th century, the more we find the tendency in Spanish ceramic art to imitate the pottery most in vogue in other countries. Francisco Cavalli, a potter of Ruidoms, won a prize at Tarragona in 1787, for his excellent imitations of brown and white Genoese ware. [MS. fol. Bibl. de S. Magestad el Rey, S. 2, E. B. pt. 8.]

The efforts made by King Charles III. towards increasing industrial arts in Spain, contributed to the reproductions and efforts made to imitate foreign wares. When the king founded in 1768 the villages of La Carolina and La Carlota in Andalucia, he ordered that pottery works should be set up there. At the same time that he established at Madrid the important porcelain manufactory of Buen Retiro, he wished that earthenware works should exist in the same locality, where specimens should be made in imitation of the best work produced elsewhere. The king was most anxious to revive to a great extent the almost extinct industry of metallic l.u.s.tred pottery, and thanks to this we are able to know most accurately the receipt and manner in which this l.u.s.tre was applied. In the same volume in which I found these doc.u.ments, [Brit. Mus. MS. Egerton, 507], are two reports addressed to Count Florida Blanca in 1786, by Iriarte and Vargas, who were instructed to facilitate the development of this industry. The first report contains information relating to the pottery works of the county of Stafford; the second tells us that in the building of San Isidro el Real, essays had been made to reproduce English wares, and the l.u.s.tred productions of Manises, with an idea of establishing inside or outside of Madrid pottery works on a large scale, under the protection of Count Florida Blanca. Iriarte and Vargas were of opinion that these works should be established far from Madrid, suggesting as the best spot El Viso in La Mancha, owing to the excellent quality of the clay. Don Sebastian Schepers, a son or brother of Cayetano Schepers, was at the head of these works. Cayetano was the chief modeller at the Retiro manufactory. Their imitations of English earthenware did not succeed; the varnish turned out badly, and they determined to bring out English workmen. Their imitations of gold l.u.s.tred ware were eminently successful, so much so that competent judges declared it was equal to what was made at Manises. Pottery works where earthenwares of different descriptions were made existed also at this time in Madrid; the best were those of Rodriguez and Reato, mentioned in Larruga's "Memorias Economicas."

At the end of the 18th, and beginning of the 19th century, Valencia and Aragon supplied the country with painted tiles. One of the finest examples of this cla.s.s which have reached us is the pavement of the chapter house of the cathedral of Saragossa, on which landscapes, medallions, and animals are finely designed in the Italian renaissance style. In a shield may be read the following inscription:

Real^{s} Fb^{cas} D E D Maria Salb adora Disdier Bru f^{t} Ano 1808.

Valencia has been much renowned for its manufacture of painted tiles, _azulejos_, which continue to be made there in a very creditable manner at the present time. J. Townsend, in his "Journey through Spain in the Years 1786-1787, London," 1792, says: "I was most delighted with the manufacture of painted tiles. In Valencia their best apartments are floored with these, and are remarkable for their neatness and elegance.

They are stronger and more beautiful than those brought from Holland."

In a "Nouveau Voyage en Espagne," Paris, 1789, p. 56, the author says: "L'industrie des Valenciens tire d'ailleurs parti de toutes les productions de leur sol. Il contient une espece de terre, dont ils font ces carreaux de faence coloree connus sous le nom de azulejos, et qu'on ne fabrique qu'a Valence. On en pave les appartements, et on en revet leurs lambris; on y peint les sujets les plus compliques, tels par exemple qu'un bal masque, une fete de taureaux. La couleur rouge est la seule qui ne puisse etre fixee sur cette espece de faence. Elle s'altere par la cuisson." In "Voyage en Espagne, 1797-1798," Paris 1801, the author says, p. 245: "Les plats sont faits de faence bleuatre ou toute autre couleur orne de figures d'oies."

Before we pa.s.s to describe another most important branch of Spanish pottery the unglazed earthenware must be mentioned, which from a very early period has const.i.tuted and still const.i.tutes a most important branch of its industry. This pottery, generally used for cooling water, consists of white porous vessels of which a large modern collection may be seen at the South Kensington Museum proceeding from Andujar and La Rambla (Andalusia). This industry remains in precisely the same state as in the time of the Arabs.

The earthenware vessels called _Bucaros_ are similar to these. This porous pottery was made to a very large extent at Talavera. It was imported originally from America; the great centre existed at Mejico.

The paste of this ware is unglazed and whitish, black or red--when painted the colours chosen are generally red, black, and gold. It was made in Spain as early as the 16th century, and we constantly find _Bucaros_ alluded to in doc.u.ments of this period. In the inventory of the effects belonging to D^{na} Juana, the sister of Philip the Second, drawn up in 1573, _bucaros_ made at Lisbon, Estremoz, and Montemayor in Portugal, and those of Ciudad Rodrigo and Castille, are also mentioned.

Madame d'Aunoy in her "Voyage d'Espagne," Lyon, [MDCXCIII.], mentions the habit of Spanish ladies of eating this porous clay. At the South Kensington Museum there are several good specimens of red pottery of this kind, Nos. 285 to 318--'72, which, as we have remarked were made at Talavera and Toledo.

ALCORA POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.

Don Buenaventura Pedro de Alcantara inherited in 1725 the estates belonging to the t.i.tle of Aranda in the province of Valencia. Count Aranda found that the inhabitants of the village of Alcora made coa.r.s.e earthenware of every description, and that their vicinity to the sea coast favoured exportation; he determined, therefore, upon establishing in 1726 a manufacture of pottery there, in which fine wares might be made in imitation of those imported from Italy, Germany, France and England. The count's efforts were so successful that in less than two years specimens of different kinds of Alcora pottery were exported to a very large extent.

No account has. .h.i.therto been published which gives any idea of the importance of this manufactory, nor have the names of the artists who worked there been known, or the works which they executed. Wishing to ascertain this, I applied to the d.u.c.h.ess of Hijar, the present representative of the house of Aranda, and permission was granted me, thanks to the kindness of the d.u.c.h.ess's _Apoderado general_, Sr. Robles, to look through the Archives, where the accounts, contracts, and details of the manufactory are kept. This has enabled me to give an idea of the importance of this industry, and the names of the artists who worked there, which have been ignored until the present time by writers on ceramic art.

Count Aranda spent in 1726 about 10,000 in establishing the manufactory of Alcora, and in May, 1727, the first specimens appeared, consisting of pottery made "in the manner of China, Holland, and other localities."

The manufactory was at that time under the superintendence of Dn.

Joaquin Joseph de Sayas and Joseph Ollery, a Frenchman, chief draughtsman and carver, who was engaged at a good salary in 1726, and brought to Alcora from Moustiers by the painter, Edward Roux. In 1728 Count Aranda increased his salary owing to the "excellent manner in which Ollery has worked at Alcora, the fine and numerous models which he constructed, which have contributed to make my manufacture the first in Spain."

Five painters and two modellers from Cataluna and six Valencian painters and two modellers joined these French artists. The personnel of the fabrique was completed with eleven potters from the locality. The French painters, M. Pierre Maurissy and M. Gras, and the master of the modellers, M. Sebastian Carvonel, were engaged in 1728 for two years to work at the manufactory. Ollery only appears in the lists up to 1737.

The Count granted him a yearly pension of 500 francs besides his salary, "for his especial zeal in the improvement of the manufactory, and his great skill in directing the construction of every kind of work." From this date until the manufacture of porcelain in 1764, only Spanish artists worked at Alcora.

The Count was able from the year 1729 to circulate the pottery made at Alcora through the Spanish dominions, free of custom-house duties. The government granted him several other privileges and the manufactory continued to improve, and spared no pains to import the foreign shapes and designs which were most acceptable. No Spanish pottery manufactory could compare with Alcora in the excellence and beauty of its work.

Among the obligations of the artists engaged, whether Spaniards or Frenchmen, was that of teaching drawing and modelling to a certain number of pupils. A special Academy was created for this purpose, which at one time held more than one hundred pupils, who were constantly renewed and increased with those who appear henceforward in the works at Alcora. In 1736 there were fifty-six painters, eleven masters, twenty workers at the wheel, and twenty-five apprentices. In this same year, 1736, specimens of pottery made at Alcora were sent "to all the dominions of Spain, Rome, Naples, Malta, many Italian cities, Portugal, and some provinces of France."

The manufactory produced yearly about 300,000 specimens of different kinds. The ordinances are interesting which in 1732-1733 prescribe, "that in our manufactory only pottery of the most excellent kind should be made, similar to the Chinese, to be equally fine as to the earths employed, that the models and wheels should be perfect, the drawing of a first-rate kind, and the varnish and colours excellent, and the pottery light and of good quality, for it is our express wish that the best pottery should only be distinguished from that of an inferior kind by the greater or less amount of painting which covers it."

Miguel Soliva, Christobal Cros, Francisco Grangel, Miguel Vilar, Christobal Rocafort, Vicente Serrania, and Joseph Pastor were the best painters at Alcora in 1743; they decorated a fine dinner service made for the Tribunal of Commerce, and the large slabs for the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales at Madrid, representing the Virgin as the Divine Shepherdess.

Pottery painted with metallic l.u.s.tre was made in 1749. We find among the receipts used in that year one brought from Manises for this object.

We find it also stated in the communications which pa.s.sed between the Tribunal of Commerce and the count in 1746, that "the perfection of the earthenware of Alcora consisted in the excellent models which had been made by competent foreign artists, the quality of the earth and receipts brought at great expense from abroad." Joseph Ochando is mentioned in that year as an excellent painter, and Juan Lopez as the best carver and modeller. This doc.u.ment tells us "that from the earliest period of the manufacture pyramids with figures of children, holding garlands of flowers and baskets of fruits on their heads, were made with great perfection, likewise brackets, centre and three-cornered tables, large objects, some as large as five feet high, to be placed upon them, chandeliers, cornucopias, statues of different kinds, and animals of different sorts and sizes. The entire ornamentation of a room has also been made here; the work is so perfect that nothing in Spain, France, Italy or Holland could equal it in merit."

The objects which were made to a great extent at this time consisted in:

Vases of different shapes.

Small pots, Chinese fashion.

Teapots and covers, Chinese fashion.

Teapots and covers, Dutch fashion.

Cruets, complete sets, Chinese style.

Entree dishes.

Salt-cellars, Chinese style.

Escudillas (bowls) of Constantinople.

Barquillos (sauce bowls), Chinese style.

Bottles, in the Chinese manner.

Cups, plates, and saucers of different kinds with good painted borders in imitation of lace-work (_puntilla_); some were designed in the Chinese manner, and especial care was taken with fruit-stands, salad-bowls and dishes.

Trays and refrigerators.

In 1750 Count Aranda pa.s.sed the pottery works on to a private company, in whose hands they remained until 1766. We know the pottery continued to be excellent. Unfortunately almost all the details of this period are missing from the Archives. One of the few doc.u.ments remaining is a contract drawn up in October, 1741, with Francois Haly (the name of this artist is given by Baron Davillier), a Frenchman, in which he agreed to work at the manufactory during a period of ten years with a yearly salary of over 1000 francs, under the following conditions:

"That the travelling expenses of his wife and children should be given him, and that his salary should be paid as soon as he made before the Director and two competent judges the different kinds of porcelain which he had undertaken to make." He agreed to give up his receipts, and it was promised him that he should have two modellers and one painter working by his side, and that if in one year Haly's porcelain was satisfactory the Count undertook to make him a present of 1000 livres (_tornoises_).

Towards the middle of the century, porcelain was made for the first time at Alcora. A contract was drawn up on 24th March, 1764, with a German, called John Christian Knipfer, who had already worked there in the pottery section. By the original agreement, which exists at the Archives, we find he was to prepare works of "porcelain and painting similar to those made at Dresden, during a period of six years, under the following conditions:"

"That the said Knipfer obliges himself to make and teach the apprentices the composition and perfection of porcelain paste, its varnishes, and colours, and whatever he may know at the present time, or discover during this period of six years; he is not to prevent the Director of the Works from being present at all the essays made."

"The said Knipfer offers to make and varnish porcelain, and to employ gold and silver in its decoration, and in that of the ordinary wares; likewise the colours of crimson, purple, violet, blues of different shades, yellow, greens, browns, reds, and black.

"That Knipfer will give up an account of his secrets, and the management and manner of using them, in order that in all times the truth of what he has a.s.serted may be verified."

From the original doc.u.ments which exist we gather that Knipfer was chiefly famed for his excellence in the painting and decoration of porcelain.

Francois Martin was engaged in 1774 for his skill in preparing different pastes for manufacturing porcelain and pipeclay. He agreed to make "hard paste porcelain, j.a.panese faence, English paste (pipeclay), and likewise to mould and bake it. The necessary materials were to be provided by the Count of Aranda." His expenses were to be paid if the specimens he presented to the competent authorities gave a satisfactory result, and his salary was to be increased to 1200 francs a year.

Knipfer and Martin greatly added to the importance of the works made at the manufactory. Don Pedro Abadia, the Count's steward, an intelligent man, possessing great scientific knowledge, who had studied this subject in Paris and London, writes to the Count that the presence of both these artists was of absolute necessity at Alcora, "until the workmen who were near them perfected themselves." For owing to the carelessness of the managers of the porcelain works in 1776 Count Aranda wrote from Paris, during his emba.s.sy there: "My pottery of Alcora, notwithstanding every effort which has been made, the money spent, and foreign masters which have been brought over, gets worse every day instead of improving."

Abadia repeats this in his reports. Porcelain of other kinds decidedly improved. He says also that the pipeclay which Martin had found at Alcora was the best in Europe.

In my opinion, a large number of unmarked white biscuit and demi-porcelain figures which are so constantly found in collections belong to this period of the manufactory of Alcora. They have hitherto been cla.s.sified with very great difficulty, and attributed to the porcelain manufactory of Buen Retiro, without any reason which justifies this opinion. For the help of collectors I will mention the subjects which they represent, which I have found in a doc.u.ment, dated 1777, of the figures and groups and other objects made during that year.

FIGURES OF DEMI-PORCELAIN.